


Red and Blue

by Black_Ink_2003



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coming Out, Eventual Romance, Homophobia, Human Lotor (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Keith's name is Red for a bit due to plot, Kidnapping, LGBTQ Themes, Lance (Voltron) Has Self-Esteem Issues, M/M, Mermaids, Modern AU, POV Lance (Voltron), Past Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Protective Keith (Voltron), Slow Burn, klance, mermaid au, mermaid biology, mermaid keith, mermaid lance, mermaid shiro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2020-06-09 13:45:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19477114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Ink_2003/pseuds/Black_Ink_2003
Summary: Lance is a mermaid, taken by fishermen and sold to SeaLion's Aquarium. When the Aquarium decides to introduce another mermaid to Lance, named Keith, the two start off on very shaky ground. Will Lance and Keith learn to get along in order to escape, or will they remained trapped in human captivity forever? Will more than friendship blossom from their unfortunate meeting, or will they tear each other apart?





	1. When We Met

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! First of all, thank you for even choosing to read this. The summary I originally wrote really sucked and I had a hard time writing it without giving away spoilers. However, I really think you will find that there is more than meets the eye within this story. This is going to be one of the longest works I have ever written (personal and posted), and I am really trying to push my own limits in storytelling here. 
> 
> Second of all, THIS IS TOLD FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF LANCE (There we go, now I know you at least read the all caps, haha), and I know that can be a bit hard to figure out in the beginning. 
> 
> A new chapter will be uploaded every Thursday. Thank you and I hope you enjoy!

Thank Floating on water is a feeling like no other. My head resting on a pillow of nothing but liquid, and my belly pointing up toward the sky. My arms are spread out and floating beside me as I soaked up the last bits of light from the evening sun. I was content with my eyes closed and my state of relaxation, my dark, royal blue colored tail fin floating along with me.

Everything was just how it should of been. The sun was dipping into the horizon of the deep blue. The clouds in the sky were white and puffy. Not too far underneath my form was a bed of deep-water coral. My home was far beneath that, in caves hidden by the coral’s multi-colored branches. My brothers and sisters were all down there, swimming about in harmony and away from the surface above.

Not many would visit the surface, even though we could breathe air just fine. This is due to fear of the big floating contraptions that deploy ropes and pull fish out of the water. The mean men with legs would supposedly burn the fish alive and tear them apart. Ever since I was little, I heard tales that their kind lived on land and were practically indestructible. Never had I seen one, and thus I believed they were not real - simply tales told by elders to scare us away from the surface and away from the danger of skin or scale damage.

The sun finally set, and stars began to appear in the sky. I sunk back into the water, but kept close enough to the surface in order to see the brilliance of the stars above. The water felt refreshing after having been soaking up the sun.

Nothing could be better than this. This evening was perfect, and was as perfect as could be.

Until it wasn’t.

I did not hear anything, nor did I see anything, as my mind was lost in thought and my eyes were once again closed. Before I knew what was happening, I felt ropes rise from under me and pull me up and out of the water. As I opened my eyes I saw a giant silver beast! It was pulling me up toward it. My arms were tangled in thick rope and I could feel my soft fin being torn by the restraints. I flailed, and yelped, and cried out.

The beast dropped me onto its hard back. I landed with a thud and the air knocked out of my lungs. I was trying to claw my way out of the net with my webbed fingers, but to no avail.

Creatures that looked to be half mermaid but with strange legs instead of fins approached me. They were speaking in strange tongues and wore what looked like furs and animal skins. They untangled the rope from my body, only to grasp at my arms and fin. I flailed about, trying to get away and back into the water. I could see trails of red coming from my skin and soft scales as I attempted to crawl away.

One of the creatures was able to tie my arms together. The strange half-mermaids then dragged me inside the silver monster and tied me to a cold post. They began to talk amongst each other, just before they began to poke and prod me. They touched my tail and began pointing at the sporadic golden scales along my torso and downward. When they began feeling up my chest, I snapped my teeth at them in a biting motion. It was then that I realised these may be the creatures spoken in the tales passed from generation to generation of the scary land monsters. They looked nothing of how I pictured they would.

Eventually they left, and the belly of the beast grew dark. I was fearful for my life. Would this strange monster now slowly digest me? Would those creatures return? Why do they look so odd?

...Why do they look like me?

After the silver monster swallowed me whole, it had those creatures help spit me out and into some cramped, water-filled container. The container was then taken to some place called an aqua-rie-yum. The next thing I remember is the container being opened, and falling into a giant concrete tank of water. The new water felt different from the sea water of my home. This water had something in it that irritated my eyes a little when I first opened them. I swam back up to the surface to see where I was. The pool of water was surrounded by four metal walls. They stretched up to a glass ceiling, with doors above that I later learned would close during the night and open in the morning. Surrounding the concrete tank were those strange mermaids with legs. They were all shapes and sizes, and all of them were talking amongst one another. The little ones were jumping up and down, while the grown ones were talking amongst themselves. When I dove back underneath the water, I found a long panel of what looked to be glass. I swam over to it, only to find more of the odd mermaids standing behind it. I then moved around the concrete tank. There was nothing here but grey walls, foreign water, and prying eyes. Why was I here? What did I do so wrong to deserve this?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mommy! Mommy! Look!” a little girl shouted. She pointed a finger at me, smiling ear to ear and bouncing up and down. The girl’s mother turned to look where she was pointing.

“Yes sweetie, that is a mermaid,” the mother said.

I was in the corner of the giant tank, sitting on the concrete bottom with my head in my arms.

“But mommy, that must be a merman! Because it looks like a boy!”

“Well-“

“See! It has short brown hair and a flat chest!”

“A girl can have a flat-“ the mother stopped herself, rubbing her temple. The mother shook her head disapprovingly. “Just because it is a boy doesn’t mean it’s not a mermaid. That is like calling a boy ladybug a lordbug.”

“Merperson!” the little girl shouted, happy with the conclusion she came to.

I had been here for about six months. The container was large, and lonely, and boring. I had studied the entire tank and none of the fake scenery was new anymore.

A couple of months ago, I learned the mermaid-like creatures were actually called hue-mans. This was during the time my container was receiving new additions. The humans had added some kind of structures that looked like it was supposed to mimic large rocks, and a giant rock arch. They also added a huge grey rock that was hollowed out on the inside. Near the bottom of the giant rock, there was a large hole that was big enough for me so swim in and out of it. I decided that was my new hiding area. Sand now also covered the bottom of the tank. I was thankful that the new environment gave me a place to explore for a few hours, and a place to occasionally hide.

Now I was still trapped here in this place with only my thoughts to occupy myself with. I was constantly getting stared at by those humans, and my scales had very slowly begun to fade in color due to loneliness.

That little girl was now gone, along with her parent. How they spoke the same language as I did, I had no idea. But she was gone, and in her place was a school of children. They all wore the same sea foam green shirt and were bouncing with the same excitement. I decided, what the hell, I’m bored and they’re entertaining.

I swam over to the school of children. They all looked up at me in awe, with their grubby little hands and chubby little faces. I swam up and down the length of the tank, catching their attention. I then swam up only to jerk downward and begin chasing my own tail, amusing the children while making myself dizzy. The world spun around me, with blue and gold colors mixing together and my form gliding through the water at speeds as fast as I could swim. When I finished chasing my tail, my head was spinning, vision blurry, and I was frantically breathing in and out through the gills on the sides of my neck.

The children were in awe, their mouths agape and their hands and faces pressed against the glass. I could faintly hear them squealing in glee and shouting for more. I swam to the bottom of the tank, my chest barely brushing the bottom. I lifted both my hands and pressed them against the glass, all the little children began running one another over to press their hands against the glass opposite to mine.

They reminded me so much of the guppies back home - the mermaid equivalent of a human child. When mermaids are very young, in their first few years of life, their tails are similar looking to a guppy fish. Hence we call our children guppies. As mermaids grow older, their tails can change in shape and pattern. A tail can end up looking anywhere like a crowntail to a tang fish tail. Patterns of the tail can vary from complex, to simple, or to none at all. Either way, all tails are unique to each mermaid, much as how I have heard of a fingerprint for a human. All mermaids also have at least one dorsal fin on their backs, and almost all of them look just like a dolphin’s. The dorsal fin can be the same color as a mermaids skin, or can be the same color as their scales. Either way, all dorsal fins are smooth, and it is ever so rare to find a mermaid with scales on their dorsal fin. Everything depended on genetics, as it did for every other animal.

Ting ting ting

Ting ting ting ting

Ting ting ting ting ting ting ting

I snapped my head up, struck out of my daze by the sound of glass being tapped. I had been so lost in thought, I had not noticed the children were gone. I had been staring at my hands for however long. In their place was one of the aquarium workers, who kept me here in this prison. I resented them for putting me here.

I removed my hands from the glass, and swam away to the giant rock cave. I nestled into the sand at the bottom, choosing to no longer associate myself with the figure behind the glass. I closed my eyes and laid my head down on my arms.

The time passed slowly, as it always did. My eyes grew tired, and soon fell closed. I dreamed of freedom. I imagined I was swimming in the giant blue of the ocean, watching the sun rise only to set again. I dreamed of being in the caves under the reef, playing with my brothers and sisters. I longed to be free, and I longed to be home. I had never understood why I ended up here, or if I would ever get out. I have searched this entire tank for an exit, and found none - only small vents that cycle water in and out. I could not escape on my own, and even if I did I had no idea how far I was from the sea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day was quiet. There were not too many humans coming around the tank to stare as they usually did. All I had seen were the aquarium workers in the purple shirts and black pants. It was a strange sight for there to be so little activity behind the glass. The silence was comforting for a while, but as the day went on, it became eerie and unsettling.

Before long I could hear a commotion coming from the surface. As any curious merperson would do, I swam to the top of the tank to see what was happening. When I broke through the face of the water my skin became cold from the air. Clouds could be seen from the skylight above, blocking out the sun and casting a shadowy light. I turned around to find a group of human workers crowded together, talking amongst each other and hunched over a box.

“Should we open the doors? Let the tourists in and bring them to watch the introduction?” One of the purple shirts asked.

“Yeah, let’s go ahead and do that before we release it. Hey, Jessie, go tell Mandy to start letting people in,” a tall brunette pointed at another worker.

One of the humans left and jogged down some metal stairs.

I glided over to the edge of the tank, resting my arms on the smooth edge. I saw a large, white, rectangular container. It was sealed, and the humans were slowly dragging it over to the tank.

“Ok, here we are,” one of the humans said as the box reached the edge of the tank.

“Now, once we open the lid, this thing is gonna bolt out of the box. So we need to already have the box turned on its side when we go to release it.”

“Where did this one come from? Blue came from off the east coast of Cuba.”

“This one was found off the coast of Texas. It sure put up one hell of a fight.”

“You don’t think it will be too stressed out for the tank and Blue, do you?”

“No, it shouldn't. Based on studies done and the like, most Mer-Species adapt to their surroundings quickly and should not become too stressed from drastic change.”

“That doesn't sound right”

“Don’t worry about it. I doubt we will have any issues.”

I decided their conversation was boring, as much of it didn’t make much sense. Thus, I dove back into the water and immediately saw the giant crowd of humans gathering around the glass. Children in the front were jumping up and down, excited out of their minds. The adults in the back were holding up strange devices, small and rectangular in size. Faint chatter could be heard through the glass, louder than any other time I could hear them speaking.

When I swam over to them, their eyes were all pinned on me. Looking me up and down and pointing.

Suddenly I saw on of the workers shoving her way to the front. She had a small, black device wrapped around her ear and extending to her mouth. She made it to the glass of the tank, her blond hair pulled back. She then turned toward the crowd to address them.

“This is our 17-year-old male mermaid named Blue,” She explained, her voice somehow being projected louder than any other.

“Blue?” I muttered. “That’s not my name.”

“Blue here was brought to this Aquarium six months ago. He is very playful and can often be found giving a little show. As you can see, he has a blue, fishlike tail. If you look close enough, you can see small golden scales scattered along his tail. Mermaid’s tails range in colors and patterns. No two tails are believed to be the same.”

The crowd oohed and awed.

“Mermaids are omnivores, but we feed Blue kelp and wakame. We also created the tank to a general idea of the habitat a mermaid is typically found in. However, they can adapt to many climates, much like humans do.”

I swam back and forth along the length of the tank, taking in every one of the humans present. What they were excited about, I had no clue.

“The rock walls of the tank keep the authenticity of the habitat. The rock arch is meant to provide more texture to the enclosure, along with several smaller rocks on the sandy floor. Besides the rock arch, you can see the cave in the left corner. Blue enjoys that cave corner, and if you don’t see him in the tank, then he is likely on the bed of that cave.”

She paused, as though she was listening to the device in her ear.

“Ok folks, now we are getting to the exciting part. Mermaids are social animals, and not often found alone. Unfortunately for Blue, we have been unable to integrate another mermaid for quite some time. This has caused some slight fade in his traditionally vibrant scales. Mermaids release Saphirum when socializing with others of their kind. This chemical released in their bodies allows for the upkeep of the color of their beautiful scales. Think of human skin when it is deprived from sunlight for long periods of time. Research is still being conducted today to fully understand how this phenomenon works.”

I heard a commotion coming from the surface. I turned around and stayed in place, looking up. I could see humans crowded around that container, beginning to pry the lid open.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you our newest addition to SeaLion’s Aquarium. Meet Red, an 18-year-old male mermaid.”

The container opened, and out flopped and blur of red and tan.

Fearful of what just entered my cage, I quickly hid behind the rock arch, which almost hid me perfectly from the red blur’s view. I peaked my head out from behind it in order to continue to watch.

“Male mermaids are not known to be hostile toward one another, unlike males in other species. So today, we are introducing Blue to Red, and are hoping they get along.”

The red scaled mermaid regained his balance and sense of direction. He swam back up to the surface, and I could see him taking in his surroundings. I watched as he swam back under water and looked around. He spotted the huge glass window before noticing much of anything else. He bolted over and pressed his hands against the glass. He backed away from it and continued to scan the area for a route to escape.

“When we introduce any animal into a new home, they may be frightened at first. However, they will soon get comfortable with their new surroundings over time.”

The mermaid began swimming around the enclosure, inspecting everything.

“Feel free to stay and watch Blue and Red interacting for the first time. Adults, please don’t forget that in four weeks you can come back for the Aquarium’s Mating Season Tour,” the blond lady then began making her way back through the crowd, and disappeared from sight.

I slowly began to move out from behind the arch, into full view of the only other mermaid I had seen for quite some time. I was so excited to see someone else, and happy to actually talk to someone besides myself.

The mermaid with red scales stopped swimming as soon as he saw me. He became stationary, just watching me with cautious eyes.

“Hey,” I said, “I’m Lance. Who are you?”

The red scaled mermaid said nothing, just stared at me and remained defensive.

“It’s okay,” I said. “Did they hurt you?”

Red glared at me, unmoving. I could see the gills in the side of his neck frantically breathing in and out. He was shaking, something I had not noticed before.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m so glad to see-” I began speeding up toward him, so excited to see someone after so long, “another mermaid!”

Red began backing away from me, but I was too distracted by my own need for comfort from someone else that I completely forgot that he was literally just dumped in here not minutes ago.

“Don’t come any closer!” Red warned, holding a hand out to me.

I didn’t care, I just desperately wanted someone else.

“I said don-”

It was too late.

I felt my head turn before anything else. Then a searing pain blossomed in my cheek and spread its fiery petals. I recoiled and was taken aback. Was I just hit? Did Red just hit me?

I had never been hit before.

I regained my focus, only to see Red hunched over in a defensive position. His teeth were bared and his hands at his sides displaying his fingers in a claw-like position.

I began backing away, my own heart now racing.

“I-I didn’t mean to-“

“Get away from me!” Red yelled.

I swam away, darting back to the cave and hiding within the small space. This was my area, and there would be no way I would let him invade my one place of semi-comfort.

Red swam away around the tank, once again inspecting everything. He occasionally would swim up to the glass and bang on it, yelling at the humans to stop staring and go away.

I peeked out of the cave entrance, watching his stressed out actions. I knew it was going to be a long night, and one he would hopefully leave me alone in. I knew he was frightened and I knew I should have left him alone. However, I was just excited and didn’t mean him any harm.

As I predicted, the night was long. The humans had left, and the skylight above was now closed. The tank was left in total darkness. My eyes were dropping, and I had assumed Red to have settled down somewhere for the night.

Except he was anything but settled down.

Red realized the top of the pool was uncovered, so he decided to wreak havoc. I could hear him grunting and cursing up a storm. The sound of metal on concrete also was hella annoying to someone who is trying to sleep.

I decided I would go investigate and see what was going on above.

What I saw was a mermaid half out of the tank holding a metal pipe and desperately trying to knock over a bucket.

“What are you doing?” I asked, still tired and drowsy.

Red only turned toward me, glared as though I was supposed to already know what he was doing, and turned back around.

“You’re never gonna reach that,” I exclaimed, swimming over to the edge of the tank and resting my arms on the ledge.

Red ignored me, and kept trying to pull himself further out of the water to reach the bucket.

“Why do you want that so bad?”

Red dropped the pipe, the metal clashing to the ground with a sound that echoed through the enclosure. He then faced me, anger steaming behind his eyes.

“I have no idea how much time has passed, but I have no eaten for what feels like weeks,” Red finally explained.

I moved closer to him, still weary of him due to what happened when I approached him last time. “Can I help you?”

“You help me? Ha! That’s funny.”

I pulled myself up and over the ledge of the pool, now completely exposed to the air. I then laid down on the cold ground, and as silly as I know it looked, rolled myself over to the bucket. I then took hold of the aluminum thing and slid it over to Red. He caught it, and immediately dove back into the water.

“Hey!” I called, and rolled back over the edge of the tank. As I broke through the surface of the water, I could see Red huddled in the right corner opposite the glass wall. He was hunched over the bucket and frantically stuffing the wakame in his mouth. I had not noticed until now just how much his skin clung to his ribs.

I retreated back to my cave, and nestled into the sand. Sleep soon consumed me there after.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following day, I awoke to the sound of yelling coming from above. As I swam out of the cave and looked up, I could see a rose red tail hovering in place. As I moved closer to the surface, it was then that I noticed these very small, but beautifully perfect, silver spots running from the tip of his tail, all the way up his back and disappearing into his hairline. They started out large and then grew smaller the closer they got to Red’s neck and head. Once I broke through the surface of the water, a good distance behind Red, I could see one large dorsal fin on his back, with two others in front of and behind the large one. They were just as beautiful as his tail. The tip of his fins had red scales that spread down and faded into the same color as his fair skin and disappeared into his flesh. He was so gorgeous - from his tail to his luscious mullet.

Red was struggling to keep hold of the bucket from last night as a worker was attempting to pull it from him with a pole that had a dull hook at the end. He was fighting to pull it back under, but was just about losing to the human.

“Just let it go,” I said, making sure to keep my distance from him.

“Like I would ever listen to you!” Red yelled with his arms wrapped around the bucket as though it was a matter of life or death.

From where I was, I could see there was nothing left in the silver tin.

“Trust me,” I said, “You don’t want to get on their nerves.”

“How would you know?” Red asked. “You don’t seem to even want to get out of here, when last night you clearly proved you have the capability to do so.”

“I tried… several times.”

“But you’re still here.”

“I am… because the sea is too far to get there by yourself…. You would dry out before you ever come close to making it.”

“That doesn’t explain crossing them… these mermaids without fins.”

“If you make the wrong one angry, they take those long sticks over there,” I pointed to the wall behind the human, “and they touch them to your skin. The sticks glow purple at the end when turned on, and burn really hot,” I lifted my tail up and out of the water. You could see a few dark spots - burn marks made by the sticks from when I was found too far out of the tank.  
The bucket was suddenly ripped from Red’s grasp. Red yelped, then angrily turned toward me.

“You made me lose my trail of thought!” He growled, just before lunging through the water at me.

I tried to swim away but my reaction was too slow, as Red latched onto me and pushed me under the water. He clawed at my head, only able to get a grip on my hair and pull. I jerked my hand to his, trying to pry him off of my hair.

Red then let go, and I tried to swim away again only for him to grasp my tail and pull it back toward him. I could feel his fingers digging into my scales. I yelped and begged him to let go. I turned toward him and was able to get a grip on his hair. I pulled and pulled and pulled, all while screaming at him to let go of me before my tail tore.

Red never once let up on his grip, instead he had to be pried off of me by several of the humans. I could feel his nails digging into my scales. I let go of his hair and once again tried to break free. I was successful, and I immediately darted into my cave. I barely peaked out on the entrance, watching the commotion going on above.

Three humans were wearing these black suits with strange flippers on their feet. They had on yellow masks and were wrestling Red. I could see small trails of blood from my route to my hiding space. I could feel the burn of my torn flesh, and I was whimpering.

Red was held with his arms behind his back, they were cuffed together with these purple ties. A restraint was placed around his mouth, keeping him from biting any of the humans. I watched as they dragged him out of the water, all while he was still struggling to get away.

It was then that I noticed there was again a giant crowd formed around the glass.

Humans - all they do is invest themselves in situations that aren’t their own.

As soon as the water was calm again, I ducked back down to inspect the damage on my body. Blue scales were dyed with blood, and scratches raked down from my waist to my tail. The delicate skin of my tail fin was slightly torn from the rough treatment. I shakily reached out and brushed my hand over the damaged areas of my body. I hissed in pain when my fingers made contact. I brought my other hand, not occupied with inspecting the damage, up to my mouth. I bit down on my hand to distract myself of the pain down below. I whimpered and could feel my eyes burning from the stinging. Above water, tears will fall from a mermaid’s eyes when saddened or when feeling pain. However, when underwater they burned and the whites of the eyes would sometimes tint red.

The stinging never ceased, and the blood continued to seep out of my wounds. It felt like time was moving so slow before I saw movement enter the tank. Approaching my self-proclaimed-temporary-until-I-figure-out-how-to-get-out-of-here home, was one of those humans in the weird outfits. I sunk further into the cave, my back now pressed against the back of the cave - not like it way very big anyway.

The human reached the mouth of the cave, covering the entire entrance with their form.

I moved so my tail was behind me. I was trying to shield my wounds from the human, as I did not know what it’s intentions were. I bared my teeth and quietly hissed.

The human then pulled out some small device from their waist band. They raised it and pointed it at me. Before I even felt the pinch, the device shot something out at me - straight into my neck.

I felt dizzy, and had to lower my hands to the ground in order to steady myself. My vision went blurry and that’s where my memories of that day suddenly sto-


	2. The Man With White Hair

_Everything is cold…._

_I didn’t… wait what?_

_What’s…. Where am I?_

  
_Everything is dark… and_

_And… And my… and my tail hurts really bad…._

_What is that shooting pain going up my back? Did I cut myself or - AGH!_

_I can’t move… I can’t move… I CAN’T MOVE!_

_Oh my god_

_OH MY GOD_

_OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMY-_

I gasped, taking in water through my gills faster than I ever had before. Everything was a dull white. I was… I was in a box? I could hardly move. I tried to wiggle around but this box was so small I had hardly any room. It was then that I noticed this container was only filled halfway with water. I didn’t know where I was or what was going on. I was just suddenly awake, in a box, with no idea how I got here.

_Okay…_

_Okay, think…_

_What is the last thing I can remember…._

_I remember Red, and that stupid bucket…. He wouldn’t let it go, and then he lost his grip on it… He came at me…. I don’t remember why, he just did. I can’t remember anything else…. No… wait…. I was bleeding… and everything hurt….. That’s it._

_Wait a minute……. **How the hell do I get out of here?**_

All of a sudden the box was moving, the water on the inside sloshing around. I darted my hands out to the walls in an attempt to steady myself. I yelped as the container jolted just before it began to roll onto its side. I was desperately trying to steady myself but failing. One of the walls disappeared and I was falling through the new hole.

_Splash!_

My face hit water and the rest of my body slipped right in. When my eyes opened I realized I was back in my tank. As I turned around, I found humans standing next to the box, smiles on their faces as though they just fished a toy soldier out of a cat’s mouth. I dove back under the water, immediately darting into my cave. As I swam, I noticed that my tail felt heavier than it should be - as though something was pulling it down. My torso also felt stiff, and restricted.

As I reached my safe haven, I turned, flipped my tail in front of me, and was horrified. My actual tail fin itself had these strange white strips of cloth over where tears in my blue fin had previously been. The base of my tail was wrapped in thin white cloth, and the wrapping ended around my waist where my scales turned to skin. My tail was sore, and the tight wrapping had only added to the dull pain.

I decided to rest, and thus I laid down on the sand, my belly touching the ground. It was then that I realised there was a small weight on top of my one dorsal fin. Only then did I realize there was a slight sting near the tip of the fin. I could not see what was wrong, but I reached my right arm around my back and twisted uncomfortably in order to feel for what was up there.

My fingers touched the base of my fin, and then I slowly felt my way up to the tip.

I gasped as I felt a round piece of plastic on one side of my dorsal fin… no wait - it was on both sides, and… and there was a rod that went through my thick fin and connected the two. A mermaid’s dorsal fin is very similar to cartilage, like a human’s ear. Like earring holes, when the hole is made it can hurt like hell depending on whether or not the hold is made on a bundle of nerves. Once an earring hole heals, the soreness goes away and you no longer feel pain. Now, not many mermaids wore piercings on their dorsal fins, as it still hurt like hell. In my case, I was furious at this. Did the humans put this here? HOW FRICK FRACKING - SNICK SNACKING - TICK TACKING DARE THEY!

This was so frustrating. First my tail, then my torso, and now my dorsal fin. I literally don’t even know what they did to me. It was like I had no control over my own body while I was here. Even Red seemed to leave unwanted marks on me…. Red… where was Red?

I had not seen him in the tank when I was dumped in. Ugh, why should I even care? It’s not like we were friends. Who would want to be friends with someone who snaps at you and literally almost tore all your scales off? Not me.

I nestled down into the sand, my arms acting as a resting place for my head. I drifted off, trying hard to ignore the strange objects all over my body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A day went by and the only activity in the tank was the faint sound of screaming children and grumpy adults. I stayed in my cave all day and only came out when food was dropped into the tank.

Another day went by and I began to worry about where Red was. I may not have liked him very much, but I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him… heh, that sounds funny considering that he caused me so much damage. Speaking of which, the pain of, well just about everything, was slowly going away. At least that much was good.

Day three and I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Red was nowhere to be found. I swam to the surface to see if, for some reason, he might be up there. I searched the entire tank, even though there are hardly any good hiding spaces besides the cave - not luck. I didn’t necessarily miss him, just more so the fact that he was my only company in this place… maybe I did miss him… I don’t know. I didn’t like him, that much I did know, but I still missed his presence… the presence of someone else.

There is this song that my mother would sing to me when I was little. It sounded eerily similar to the tune of You Are My Sunshine I once heard a human singing to their child in an attempt to calm them down. I remember the lyrics as clear as day, and the look on my mother’s face as she sung. She began the song with a smile on her face, but by the end she would almost always be in tears.

 _Tú eres mi hijo_  
_Mi único hijo_  
_Nunca te dije, no te vayas_  
_Mi amor por ti es infinito_  
_No te alejes de mi_

The song is about a mother who loves her son so much she does not want him to leave her. The song was passed from my grandma to my mom, who then sung it to me. My grandparents spoke spanish, but the language began to fade in my family, and now most of us spoke english, at least as a primary. That is not to say I did not know spanish, I just used english more often. I only ever really spoke it with my grandparents, even if it wasn’t that good.

Either way, the song was a comfort, even if it was sad. And with that, I began to hum it. Once… twice… then I began to sing the lyrics… once… twice… and then I began to cry. Some words were out of tune, and some words were shaky. I trembled, my tail twitching as I tried to steady myself. A few words broke with my voice, and then I broke out in wails. I cried loud and brought my webbed hands up to my hair. I hiccuped, and sniffled, and choked down more sobbs. I tried to calm myself but there was no point. I was alone in this place, with no one, not even Red, who caused me more harm than I thought he could. I missed someone just being here, even though he was here for no more than two days. I don’t know, I just wanted someone to be here with me. I wanted someone to tell me everything was going to be okay, and that these strange, human things all over my body were nothing to be scared of. What did I do to deserve this?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, we’re gonna try this again, but this time we gave it something to calm down.”

“Just give them some time, I’m sure everything will work out.”

“Oh, like you and your boyfriend?”

“Shut up!”

Hitting the water can be blissful, as you dive in and just feel yourself embraced. But it can be painful too, as your skin makes contact with it from a high distance and you’ll bleed. Sometimes when you enter it with no warning it can be suffocating at first, even for someone who can breath above and below the big blue just fine. It’s like choking on air, when you have to switch over and sometimes you don’t react fast enough.

I woke up to two things. The first being the chatter of those humans, and the second being the splash and coughing of someone who just entered the water.

_Oh my seastorm is he back?_

I quickly peeked my head out of the cave, looking around and trying to see if my suspicions were true.

There he was, swimming to the rock arch with that beautiful tail and that beautiful way he swims. I watched as he swam through the rock arch and up to the glass wall. He placed one hand on the glass, watching people walk by and stare. He didn’t look as frightened as he was the last time I saw him. He was just… just out of it a little.

I chose not to approach him, no matter how badly I wanted to. Yes, he was a company, and I missed the fact that there was someone else in here besides me, but he had still hurt me. My tail was still healing from being torn. My torso still hurt, and that was something hard to forget. I was, however, glad to see that he was safe. I watched him from the comfort of my cave by simply peaking my head out and over the edge.

Red - jeez, I wish I knew his name - nestled himself into the sand behind one of the pillars of the arch, away from prying eyes. It was then that I noticed he also had one of those disks piercing his largest dorsal fin, the grace of his scales ruined by the human-made disks. His was black, with white markings on it. I wondered if mine looked the same.

Red sat there for a while, long enough that many humans had passed by the tank and light was slowly disappearing from the skylight above. The entire time I watched him, longingly and cautiously, my gaze occasionally flickering over to the humans crowded around the glass.

When food was thrown into the tank, the green contents slowly sinking to the bottom, I did not budge. I watched as Red lifted his head and watched the food float down. He reached his webbed hand out and caught a piece of kelp. He looked it up and down before opening his mouth and eating the green food. It was then that I noticed his ribs were not as prominent as they were before - as though he actually ate something in whatever time we were out of the tank. He also looked drowsy, even after having rested for some time. It was then that, as he watched more food fall, he noticed my head peeking out from the mouth of the cave.

We just stared at each other, our eyes locked as we waited for one another to make the first move. Red’s eyes were not filled with hate as they were when I last saw him. Instead, they were… they were almost sad. He looked lost, or at least conflicted.

I slowly began to raise my right hand up to wave at him. But… but instead I chose to just rest my hand on the bottom lip on the cave mouth. Was waving too much? I longed for a friend, but… but even if he was here, that did not make him my friend. How could he be my friend when he tore off parts of my scales? When he hurt me?

Red began to move toward me, but then stopped himself. He then turned around and swiftly swam away. I watched as he hid behind the arch pillar farthest from me, only the two tips of his tail peeking out from the rock.

After having seen his tail again, I had come to the conclusion that it looked similar to that of a koi fish. It was so simplistic, yet fit him perfectly. The tail fin was red, same as his scales, but it was more of a faded red with the tip ending in a coral-ish color. His tail was… was something that fascinated me in a way no one else's tail ever had before.

As for myself, my tail was not the kind you could find in every other mermaid. It was very similar to a Halfmoon Betta Fish tail, with the flowy flesh fanned out and blue with gold colors. The royal blue being that of a background color for thin, gold veins running through the near-transparent tail. It wasn’t all that pretty, at least that’s what I thought. It kinda looked like someone tried to cut a round flag out of cloth, but had really dull scissors and nothing to keep them cutting straight. My sister, Veronica, always told me I was too hard on my own appearance.

The more I stared at Red, the more I noticed his tail twitching in an up and down motion. Then I got a glimpse of his bare shoulder, and could see his form slightly shaking up and down too… was he okay?

I ever so slowly moved out of the cave, just enough to get a different angle on Red. I could then see him hunched over, his arms wrapped around him in a self-hug. His eyes were closed, and he was gritting his teeth. I could only assume he was crying, and desperately trying to keep quiet.

“Hey…” I whispered, trying not to startle him.

Red opened his eyes and turned his head to face me. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked exhausted. As soon as our eyes locked again, Red whimpered - a small sound that made my heart clench. He was hurting, and there was no one there for him.

I was gonna be there for him.

“It- It’s okay now… you’re back and no one here is gonna hurt you,” I said, my voice quiet and calm.

Red curled in on himself more, and I could tell he felt vulnerable out in the open with the way his eyes would dart around before falling back on me.

“What’s your name?” I asked, not moving any closer to him, just keeping my distance.

“... My name?” Red shakily whispered.

“Yeah… can you tell me your name? Do you have one?”

“I, um… yeah… I’m Keith,” he stated, his eyes downcast to the sand below.

“Keith,” I tested the name on my tongue. “I like your name. Mine is Lance.”

“I know,” Keith quietly said. “You told me.”

“Oh yeah… that’s right,” I murmured, embarrassed.

It was then that Keith’s grey eyes were drawn to my torso, and traced their way down to my tail. His eyebrows furrowed.

“What happened to you?” Keith asked, before realization dawned on him. “Oh… I didn’t….. I-I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I woke up like this. I can only assume the humans did this to me, and I don’t know what else would have.”

“I did this to you,” Keith murmured, his eyes filled with guilt. “I tore you up, and they had to put you back together…”

“You didn’t mean to… at least, I hope you didn’t.” I awkwardly laughed.

“I- I didn’t…” Keith said, but it almost seemed as though he was trying to convince himself more than me. “I- I’m so sor- sorry… I… I- I didn’t, I just…”

Keith then quickly got up and swam away, trying to find a place to hide himself, but there was nowhere to go. I was still close enough to my cave as to not let him in. I was being gentle to him now, but there was still no way I would let him into my safe space.

I decided to go back to my rocky cave, and give him privacy from at least my eyes. As I curled up in the sand, nestled and as comfy as one could be in captivity, I could hear sniffles and hiccups. He must have been crying again, and failing to suppress himself.

That night, my eyes closed and I drifted off to the heartbreaking sound of Keith’s distraught whimpers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of screaming children, a common occurance to be heard from within the tank. I rose into an upright position and rubbed my eyes, a yawn escaping my mouth. When I opened my eyes, I found a pile of seaweed and wakame resting on the lip of the cave. I peeked my head out of the entrance to get a look around the tank, only to see a glimpse of Keith’s head before it disappeared around the farthest pillar of the rock arch.

Did he do this?

I reached my hand out, picking up pieces of the food and inspecting it with my webbed fingers. When I decided there was nothing wrong with the green provisions, I began taking my fill, and stuffing my mouth full. When the pile was gone, I lifted my head to see Keith’s peeking out from behind the pillar.

I lifted my hand and waved at him, watching as Keith jerked back behind the large, rocky column. I hoped the red color on his face didn't mean he was getting sick.

I decided today would be a good day to entertain some kids, seeing as I had been keeping to my cave for a while and needed a reason to stretch my fins.

I swam out of my dwelling and made my way to the giant glass wall, knowing that Keith was likely watching me. I swam to the bottom, feeling sand brush against my front as I placed a hand against the glass.

One boy, with curly hair and a dark complection, waddled up to me and placed his hand opposite of mine. His green eyes looked into my blue ones with wonder as he grinned from ear to ear. He was so small, and yet one day he would grow up to be the same as the humans who dragged fish out of water in droves.

Soon, more kids were gathering around the first one, and adults were pulling out those rectangular devices again. I looked behind me to see Keith watching me cautiously, obviously wary of the creatures behind the glass. I used my unoccupied hand to wave him over, gesturing for him to come join me.

“They can’t hurt you from behind the glass,” I stated.

Keith stayed put for a few seconds, before warily swimming up to the glass, still keeping his distance from me by a few feet. He looked to me, confused.

“Put your hand on the glass,” I told him, trying to get him comfortable.

Keith gave me a look that asked if I was crazy. He did what I told him anyway, but he was farther up that I was. None of the children could reach his hand, as they were too small. When Keith noticed this, he floated to the bottom of the tank, his chest now also barely touching the sand. He replaced his webbed hand on the glass, and watched as children gathered around and shoved against one another to try to place their hand opposite of his. There was a small smile that graced his face at the sight.

“They… they’re like guppies,” Keith stated, his eyes roaming over every one of the small humans.

I let out a breathy laugh. “That they are.”

“What are they? They look like us, but… but not their bottom halves,”

“They are humans,” I explained. “They are land dwellers who take what they want, no matter the cost.”

“Is that why we are here?”

“Yes… They saw us, and wanted us for their amusement… So now we are here, in this enclosure.”

Keith’s eyes narrowed. “I hate them.”

“Yeah, but the little one’s aren't so bad. Of course, besides the screams.” I smiled.

Keith laughed. “Like guppies are any different.”

We watched the children squirming around, fighting one another while the adults laughed and flashed those rectangular boxes.

“Do you wanna see them get even more excited?” I asked Keith.

“Sure?” He looked at me, confused.

I got a big grin on my face just before I backed away from the glass, the children groaning in protest. I then bent backward, enough so I could see my blue tail. I began moving toward my tail, picking up speed gradually. I was bent backward and chasing my tail, a ridiculous sight to see I’m sure. As my speed picked up, I could feel myself drifting father into the tank and away from the glass. The sound of children giggling, the flashes of those devices, and tapping on the glass was the ambiance of the comings and goings behind the glass.

When I finished my strange and long backflip, I found Keith staring at me with a look of both curiosity and what on Earth is he doing? I swam back over to the glass, now looking Keith right in his dark, grey eyes.

“They get excited, don’t they?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Keith said, his eyes never breaking contact with mine. “Hey… about earlier. I’m sorry for-”

Suddenly my tail was being pulled, and I was being dragged backward. I twisted my body to see what had ahold of me, all the while thrashing around to try and break its grasp. Once I was able to see the giant creature, I realized it was one of those humans in the weird suits. They were pulling me toward the surface.

As fast as the human had grabbed me, I felt arms wrap themselves around my chest, pulling me toward the bottom.

I winced, my tail still sore after having been hurt, and this human tugging on it was not helping me at all. I tilted my head back onto a shoulder, and saw Keith baring his teeth at the human as he tried to get my away from it. I thrashed my tail, trying desperately to get the human to let go. Eventually I was successful, causing Keith to quickly drag me into a corner where glass met concrete. He shoved me behind him, where he then blocked me in with his body, essentially trying to shield me from the human.

The human with the flappy feet swam in front of Keith, and the two were at a standoff. I raised my hands to Keiths shoulders, where I then peeked my head out from his bare back.

“He’s already been hurt!” Keith yelled, his voice breaking. “I’m not gonna let that happen again. Not by monsters like you!”

“Keith…” I whispered, watching as the oddly dressed human pulled out one of those devices that pinched me.

“No!” He shouted. “I did something wrong. And now I have to make amends for it. And the last thing I am about to do is let you take him, and hurt him like I did.” Keith paused, his shoulders dropping ever so slightly. “I’m sorry, Lance.”

The human then pressed a button on the device, and a small, thin like rod shout out and pierced Keith in his arm.

“Keith!” I quickly pulled Keith to me as to keep him from falling down to the bottom of the tank. I pulled the rod out of his arm and tossed it aside. Keith was knocked out, his eyes glazed over and his body went limp.

I felt a prick in my neck, and knew what was coming next. I quickly flipped Keith onto his stomach, that way when he would float to the bottom of the tank he would not damage his three dorsal fins.

The last thing I saw was Keith’s body floating to the bottom of the tank, his vibrant cherry scales glistening in the light.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I came to I was laying face down in a large, shallow white dish. In the dish was water. My arms being held down by something I couldn't see. My vision was still a little blurry, but I could make out three humans moving around the dish, which was being held up on a white table. My tail was being gently tugged back and forth, and I could feel the cold air begin to hit scales on my torso. There was a tugging feeling along my back as one of the humans inspected my dorsal fin. Then my tail was being touched up and down, and I tried to flinch away from their dry hands.

“What an _exquisite_ tail,” a deep voice rumbled, his voice laced with a foreign accent.

“Yes, Blue here is very similar to a siamese fighting fish. His colors and especially his tail are not very common in the wild,” said one of the female humans working on whatever they were doing to my tail.

“He is young too, is he not?” the accented voice asked.

“Yes, sir. A mermaids life span is about seventy to eighty years in the wild. He is only seventeen, and in very good health besides his flesh wounds that are healing very quickly.”

“Ahh… so I see. He is bigger than the red one.”

“Yes. There is no sort of thing as types of males, like in other species, so their size has no real meaning. In Red and Blue’s case, Blue is just a little bit taller than Red.”

A hand trailed up from my fin, to my torso, up my back where scales turn to flesh, and all the way up my neck and to my hair.

“He has soft hair for a fish out of water.” I felt hands running through my hair, occasionally pulling at the strands. I winced once in a while when this stranger would tug particularly hard. “I love his voice.”

It was then that a hand cupped my chin and lifted my head up at an awkward angle. The human that was looking at me had long white hair, bright blue eyes, beige skin, and the look on his face that craved something. He bent down to be face to face with me, and I could feel him breathing through his nose.

“Hello there little Blue. My name is Lotor,” The tall human then stood back up, and looked at the other two humans by my tail. “He is a magnificent beast… how much is he?”

“Oh, I’m sorry sir, but Blue is not for sale. He was a rescue from a fishing boat that otherwise would have skinned him. SeaLion’s Aquarium is not currently selling.”

“What a shame, to waste away such a creature in a place like this. I have seen the way he behaves in his prison. He is a playful little thing, and it would be a shame if his talent were to go down the drain.”

_I’m literally right here. I can hear you… Why can’t I speak?_

My vocal cords feel like sandpaper. I could make small noises, but not so much as to utter a word.

“We are about done here. I think we should get him back in the water as soon as we take this last strip off his tail,” a female worker said.

I felt one last tug on my tail before the last piece of human wrappings on me were gone. The table then began to move, which made me guess it was a moving table, or at least had wheels on the bottom.

Once the table stopped moving, it began to lift. Lotor was lifting the clear dish by my head and staring down at me with a predatory gaze. The other two workers lifted it from the sides. It was then that I realized I could move my arms again. All three of them lifted it up into the air before it began to tilt. I was suddenly flying through the air for a very short distance before I plummeted into cold water.

As soon as I took a breath in the new water I was in, I could feel my throat moisten up, and I felt as though I could speak again. I cleared my throat, and when I regained my sense of direction, looked up at the surface of the water. I could see the distorted face of Lotor staring down at me, a smug grin on his face, as though he knew something I didn’t. His eyes sent chills down my spine, and made my stomach drop. He just gave off an overall vibe of wrong.

“Lance!”

“Keith,” I whispered as I turned around to greet him.

Keith’s face was flushed red. “I’m so glad to see that you’re okay.”

I smiled, happy that nothing horrible happened and I was back in the tank.

Keith’s eyes glanced down from mine to my torso, and down to my tail, his eyes widening with realization.

“Those human things, they’re gone,” Keith stated.

I quickly looked down. “Oh yeah, they are.”

_You idiot, you already knew this._

My torso was back to being its royal blue, golden scales scattered throughout. No longer was my lower body covered in white. Then I noticed the discolored scales that were slightly smaller than all the others. They were in the same spots as where Keith had scratched me. When a mermaid was injured on their scales, if the scales were not torn off they would shrivel and lose color. As time went on and a mermaid healed, their scales would eventually rejuvenate and come back in color. I also noticed the tears in my tail fin was healed - the only evidence they were ever ripped being the faint blue scar that was now there.

“How long was I gone?” I asked.

“Over night,” Keith said, his eyes raising back up to mine. “I came to in the sand, and when I couldn't find you… I feared the worst.”

I gave a bittersweet smile, touched that he was concerned for me.

“Come on,” I said, beginning to swim away and lead Keith deeper into the tank. “Let’s get out of here.”

Yet I could still feel Lotor’s stare, and the feeling of something darker still to come ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter will be posted next Thursday. Feedback is always appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	3. Salmon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a really hard time writing this chapter, but I believe I did my best. Thank you for choosing to continue to read this story. I hope you enjoy!

“What are they doing?” Keith asked, staring curiously at the humans behind the glass.

“Usually when they start to crowd around like that, it means the blond lady is going to talk about us to other humans. She tells them stuff like where we came from, or what kind of mermaids we are,” I stated, also watching the humans behind the glass.

“Why would she talk about us? It’s not like we’re interesting.”

“... I think… I think the humans find us entertaining. Like, how we don’t know much about them and how they function and why they wear clothes. I think they like to learn about other species, and teach others of their race by keeping those species in cages for display like us…. If that makes any sense.”

“That’s sick, is what it is,” Keith said, glaring at the figures in the distance.

“I know… but that’s just how it is. There is nothing we can do to change it.”

I had been back in the tank now for two days. I still slept alone in the cave, and Keith slept out in the open. It’s not that I didn’t want to share my space, it’s more so I was just not ready to have someone else in my safe space. That being said, Keith and I were becoming friends. I learned that he had no siblings, and never knew his mother. When I asked why he never knew her, he sort of closed off, and changed the subject. We talked about our favorite things for a while. Keith now knew my favorite animal was a shark. Why a shark you may ask? Because sharks are fierce! Sure, they’re scary up close, but from a distance, they’re awesome. Keith’s favorite animal was a hippo. I found that funny for two reasons - the first being that I had no idea what a hippo was, and the second being that Keith told me they lived on land. When I asked how Keith even knew what a hippo was, he said that was a story for another day.

I saw the tall, skinny blond lady walking to the front of the crowd. I quickly nudged Keith from our spots in the sand. He looked over at me and I pointed to the lady.

“She looks fake-happy,” Keith muttered.

“Maybe she doesn't want to be here,” I laughed. “Watch this. First she is gonna tell them our age, and then the names they gave us. She says it like that every time.”

The blond lady reached the glass, and turned around to address the crowd, her back facing us.

“These are our only mermaids, Blue and Red. In case you didn’t find it obvious, Blue is the mermaid with the blue scales, and Red is the one with the red scales,” she stated. The crowd in front of her gave a quiet laugh.

“I stand corrected,” I muttered, Keith giving out a chuckle next to me.

“Blue is a 17-year-old male. He has been with us for almost seven months now. Red is also male, but 18-years-old, and has only been here for a couple of weeks.”

One of the little girls tugged on the blond lady’s shirt.

“Miss?” she asked, her big blue eyes begging for attention.

The blond lady looked down at her, silently telling the child to continue.

“Are they married?”

The crowd laughed, as did the blond, and the little girl’s face flushed red in embarrassment.

“Mermaid’s don’t get married. Silly girl,” the blond said, a big grin on her face. “Mermaids are a very unique type of fish, but aren’t smart enough for that. Besides, males can’t mate with other males.”

“She think’s we’re stupid,” Keith mummered.

“I think they’re stupid,” I said.

The little girl quickly went back to her spot in the crowd, and the blond lady continued.

“Today we are here to observe Mermaid hunting patterns. We normally feed Red and Blue seaweed and wakame, but they are not herbivores, they are omnivores. Today they will have the special treat of catching their own live fish. And we are lucky enough to get to watch them.”

It was then that a splash sounded from behind us. Keith and I both quickly rose off the sandy bottom. We turned around, away from the glass wall, and saw a fish being dumped into the enclosure. It was a live salmon, and a big one at that.

Keith’s eyes went wide, and I watched as he licked his lips. I, on the other hand, was ecstatic. I had not eaten fish in months and had been desperately craving it, especially since I had grown tired of all the green stuff.

“Mermaid’s hands are webbed, and their nails are very similar in color to ours. The only difference is the shape. Mermaids nails are pointed into a dull tip. Their nails may not appear very deadly, but when used aggressively can do some serious damage. It is very common to see fish type mermaids using their nails to kill fish, as to where a shark type might use their teeth,” the blond stated.

Keith and I were completely stationary, our eyes locked onto the fish. I had never caught a salmon by myself as they were too big and too fast for me. I quickly darted around the rock arch, trying to hide and wait for an opportunity to go for the kill.

Keith sunk down to the bottom of the tank so he could stay perfectly still while he watched the salmon swim about, obviously not yet aware of the danger in the tank.

“Mermaids are the type to remain still and patient as they hunt. They wait until their prey is close enough to them that they can launch out and grip tightly to their victim.”

The salmon began swimming around, heading in my direction. As soon as the fish spotted me, it darted away and began to swim frantically around the tank, searching for a way out.

I began to grow impatient, and when the salmon was close enough, I rushed at it with both my hands extended. I barely grazed the silver scales before the salmon was gone again, and I was quickly approaching the concrete wall. I had barely any time to slow myself down before I slid into the wall, wincing as my swimming came to a temporary end. I could hear laughs and giggling coming from behind the glass.

When I turned around and was able to regain my footing - ha, see what I did there? I don’t have feet - I could see Keith as still as could be in the sand. I remained where I was, watching as the salmon was now swimming around Keith. It must not have seen him as a threat, with the way he had not moved once sense dropping to the bottom of the tank.

The salmon then came so close to Keith, swimming up his back and brushing over his hair, before hands shot out and nails dug into the fish’s flesh. Keith pulled the large salmon to him, pushing his fingers more into the scales near the fish’s head. I watched as the red mermaid hugged the fish to him, attempting to keep the fish from flailing around more than Keith could handle. Crimson seeped out of the wounds in the fish, leaving streaks of red in the water.

I heard Keith let out deep hiss, a warning or a threat to the fish, depending on how you look at it. The red scaled being had his teeth gritted, and his hair falling into his face as he stared the salmon in the eyes, watching the life drain out it. I watched keith for a solid few minutes, until the fish stopped struggling and went limp in his arms. Keith's fingers were dug so far into the salmon’s body that the thin webbed flesh of his hands were hidden by the shiny grey scales.

My attention was quickly drawn to the humans behind the glass, who were both in awe and disgusted. Several children were crying, and adults had their mouths covered with their hands. They were obviously disturbed by Keith’s killing, seeing as a few adults had covers their children's eyes.

I was happy for Keith, in that he was able to take down a large salmon by himself, and make it look as though it was so easy. If it had been me, that salmon would have likely wiggled out of my grasp with how strong it’s thrashing could get.

“And that, folks, is how mermaids hunt and kill prey. Now, please feel free to come back in two weeks for our Mating Season Tour,” the blond lady cut into the thick tension that must have been in the air behind the glass, before making her exit through the crowd.

I cautiously made my way to Keith, not wanting to startle him with the adrenaline that was likely to still be running through his veins.

“Way to go, Keith,” I praised, happy that my friend made the kill. Yet I was saddened, knowing he would not likely share. I had seen the way he was with that bucket of greens, and had learned he could be very possessive.

Keith’s chest heaved up and down, his gills working hard to pump air through the water, in and out of his lungs. His head jerked up and his smoke-grey eyes met mine. His posture relaxed, and he got a big grin on his face. He held out the giant fish to me, and I could see the tips of his ears were red.

“I caught you something,” Keith said, obviously so proud of himself.

I smiled, and gently took hold of the salmon, feeling the weight of the creature. It was heavier than I thought it would be.

“Let’s go dig in,” I said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Look! That one is salivating all over itself,” Keith mentioned, pointing to the baby in an adult’s arms, while his other hand stuffed salmon into his mouth.

“Yeah, it’s so helpless,” I giggled, my mouth full of the fish.

“Like,” Keith swallowed, “It can’t even lift its head up. I thought all the land creatures were supposed to be crazy strong - Indestructible even… Yet this drooling baby looks so,” Keith paused, “breakable.”

I nodded my head in agreement.

We were both contently sitting without tails in the sand, our hips bent at an angle that allowed us to rest on the ground with our fins outstretched in front of us. The carcass of the salmon rested between us. We were both picking at it, and taking pleasure in the taste of fresh fish.

“You know,” I began “I always thought I would be stuck here alone… I thought these walls were going to drive me mad and I would one day die alone.”

Keith’s chewing slowed.

“Then you showed up, and somehow, we went from going at each other to sitting here, and sharing food… I’m sorry you ended up here, with your freedom gone. But, to be entirely honest, I’m really glad you are here with me,” I finished, a melancholy smile adorned my face as I stared down at the salmon in my hands.

We were both silent for a bit, and I could not tell if the water was tense or content.

“... Before I got here, I was living by myself,” Keith said, no longer eating the salmon.

I turned my head to face him.

“I lost my dad when I was about seven… He got caught by some humans in a giant boat.”

“... I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

“S’okay, he was dead before he hit the deck. I’m just glad they never got their hands on him before he died.”

“... and you saw this?”

“... I was there… they were originally going after me…”

We were both silent, the fish laying forgotten between us.

“But then I met Shiro. He was also alone, and he pretty much became my older brother.”

“But I thought you said you were living by yourself?”

“I was, because those same humans caught Shiro too… I think he was still alive in that net, but I haven't seen him since.”

“... I don’t have a lot of sad stories,” I said, immediately feeling guilty. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Keith laughed, “Don’t feel bad. None of anything was your fault.”

“... I have eleven family members, so being alone has been really hard… but… but I can’t even imagine how you have felt all this time.”

“I was fine before this. I had my dad, and then Shiro… and now I have you,” Keith smiled.

We both sat comfortably, going back to eating our fish and watching the humans come and go.

“Have you noticed that they have strange hands?” Keith asked.

“Strange hands? What do you mean?”

“Like… There is no thin skin in between their fingers. Their hands look all creepy and some of their nails are weird colors.”

I focused my gaze on the humans hands. I had never noticed before that, no, they did not have webbing between their fingers. And yes, some of their nails were strange colors. Some were blue, or pink, or green. I wondered if that was a genetic thing.

“Oh yeah, I see what you mean.”

“... So, what was your family like?” Keith asked, as he once again stuffed his mouth with fish.

“Well, I have three older siblings - Veronica, Marco, and Louis. Louis is already married to a girl he met a while ago named Lisa. They have two kids - my cousins Silvio and Nadia. I also have a younger sister, Rachel. My mom, my grandma, and my grandpa are the big three of the family… My dad passed away just after Rachel was born.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Keith said. “You have quite a big family.”

I smiled fondly. “Yeah, I kinda do.”

We watched as a small group of children began to form around the bottom of the glass - their dirty hands mashed up against the tank.

“... I remember one time when Louis and Veronica dared me to go pet a crab,” I laughed. “I went down to touch the orange thing and it ended up clamping down on my hair.”

“Your hair?”

“Yeah, my face got way too close to the crustation before I could even reach my arms out. I guess I really wanted to look into its beady little eyes.”

“What happened after that? Were you able to get it off?”

I grinned. “I screamed and swam all the way back to Veronica and Louis. The thing was gripping onto my hair for dear life, and my siblings had to pry it off of me. I ended up with a bald patch for a long time until the hair grew back in.”

“Did your mom ever say anything about the missing hair?”

“Yeah, and when I told her what happened she threw a fit. She ended up grounding Louis, Veronica, and I - even though to this day I still feel like none of it was my fault. I mean, it’s not like I knew the grab was gonna grab me.”

Keith laughed, only to lose his smile and look down to the ground.

“I wish I had memories like that… the best memory I have is of when Shiro and I would play hide and seek.”

I turned to look at Keith.

“One time, I was running from him after he found me hiding in a school of fish. We were both laughing and I had the biggest grin on my face. When I think back on it, it was obvious he wasn’t swimming as quick as he could, he probably did that so I could feel like I was fast… He caught up to me and tickled me until I couldn't breath…” Keith told, his lips curled up slightly into a smile. “The rest of the day didn’t go too well.”

“What happened?”

“That’s a story for another time.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The salmon was completely torn apart, and all that remained was the skeleton. It sunk to the sand, small strips of flesh still clinging to the bones. I watched it from the comfort of my cave, bored out of my mind.

Yesterday we had completely stripped the fish, and somehow were able to consume all of that between the two of us.

Now Keith lied in the sand under the rock arch, nestled into the yellow, granulated rocks that made up the floor of the tank. He slept peacefully, with his arms acting as pillows for his head. His back rose up and down, a steady pace that showed his breathing was steady.

The sun shone through the skylight, illuminating everything in the tank in all of its simulated glory. Keith’s scales shimmered in the light, and he almost appeared to be glowing with how they sparkled.

Jeez, the longer I watched him sleep the more I realised three things. The first being that he was the most attractive mermaid I had ever met. The second, that when the light caught just right, there were little flecks of orange near his tail. The third was that this was creepy as hell. From an outside perspective, I must have looked like a total stalker.

I turned away from the sight of the red scales, and curled in on myself. It was then that I felt a chill run over my body, and I realised I was lonely.

Back home, my siblings and I all slept in the same cave pocket, the entrance hidden by various colors of large coral. Well, we all slept there until Louis had to get himself a lover - he got to have his own cave pocket after that. But, I was used to sleeping next to other people. I had been craving this type of thing when I first got here, but after a while it no longer bothered me. Now that Keith was here, I missed sleeping next to someone again.

_Ha! Yeah, but that would be so awkward to ask. I mean, what do I say? Hey Keith, wanna come sleep with me? Psh, no. that sounded so stupid and childish._

I could feel heat rushing to my face at the thought. Whatever that fluttery feeling in my stomach was, I had never felt anything like it before. I wondered if I was getting sick.

_Ugh! I don’t wanna lay here any more! I need to get up and stretch my fins!_

I rose up, and swam out of the cave. At first I began to swim aimlessly, and then decided to do laps around the tip of the rock arch, my dorsal fin almost breaking through the surface of the water.

I then turned my gaze from in front of me, to watching the humans through the glass as I went around and around.

_Oh look! That one had bright pink hair! I’ve never seen that before._

_That is the smallest human guppy I have ever seen… I wonder what Keith would think of it._

_Hey! That guy had really long, white hair… wait a minute, why does he look so familiar?_

I interrupted my laps around the rock arch by swimming down to the glass wall. I pressed my hands against the clear panel, and looked for the man with the long, white hair.

_Let’s see… there are like twenty people here who have brown hair… like twenty more that are blond… Oh! There he is!_

The white haired man stood in the very back of the crowd, a smirk on his face as he stared right back at me.

_No! Please, anyone but him!_

Lotor stood behind the glass, his eyes traveling over my form. The sight of him made my blood run cold. That guy was the definition of creepy, and he seemed to take an interest to me.

I didn’t like this. Why was he here?

I quickly darted away from the glass, and right to Keith’s sleeping side.

I sunk down into the sand, Keith’s body in front of me, as though he could hide me from Lotor’s gaze.

Keith’s eyes fluttered open, only to squint at the light beaming into the water from the skylight. He groaned and lifted himself up into a sitting position, turning his head in my direction.

“What are you doing, Lance?”

I continued to stare at Lotor, as though looking away would cause him to attack me or something.

“I-I.. uh.. Remember when I got taken out of the water, and I came back without those human wrappings?”

Keith nodded his head, yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“Well… there was this guy that was there when the humans were taking off that stuff from my tail-”

“Wait, you mean to tell me you were awake for that?”

“Yeah, it’s not like it was painful or anything,” I said. “But, this guy, Lotor, was there. He didn’t look like any of the normal workers, and he wasn't dressed like them… He… he kept touching me, around my tail and then my head… It was rea-really weird, and he said some stuff that made me really uncomfortable.”

Keith’s nose scrunched up, and a frown graced his face.

“Lotor… he wanted to buy me, Keith.”

“He wanted to buy you?”

“He wanted to take me for himself or something.”

Keith’s gaze then turned toward the glass wall. “Is that why you’re hiding? Is he out there?”

“Yeah,” I meekly whispered.

“Point him out to me. What does he look like?”

I moved next to Keith, and told him of Lotor’s appearance - his tall height, to his beige skin, to his back-length-bleached-dead-coral-colored hair.

I even pointed to Lotor, my hand shaking and my stomach sinking.

“I mean, he hasn't really done anything horrible to me, but he is just creeping me out.”

My eyes looked away from Lotor when I noticed Keith’s scales lifting and flaring. A mermaid did this for two reasons. One reason was that they were preparing for battle and trying to make themselves appear bigger to frighten their opponent. The second reason would be if they were protecting something they desperately did not want to get taken from them. In this case, I couldn't tell why Keith’s scales were puffing up like an agitated cat’s tail.

I figured it would be best to not ask him.

“I see him,” Keith said, his voice dripping with venom.

“I wish he would go away,” I muttered.

“Go back into your cave,” Keith said, having a stare down with Lotor.

“Wha-”

“Just do it,” Keith barked, before his stance softened as he turned toward me. “Please, Lance,” he begged.

I did as he told me to do, and back in my cave I was. Keith had followed me but never swam inside. He elected to block the entrance with his body, scales still flared.

“What are we doing?” I asked.

“Keeping you away from prying eyes,” Keith replied.

I felt that same fluttering feeling in my stomach again, and my cheeks felt hot.

_I think I really am getting sick._

I peaked my head over the bottom lip of the cave, and past Keith’s body that took up most of my view, I could see Lotor. He had moved as close to the glass as he could before placing his hand on it. I then watched as he looked from Keith to me, and a big grin made its way to his face.

He opened his mouth, all the while parents stared at him and children were pulled away from his vicinity.

“I will have you, blue beauty.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith stayed with me until the humans behind the glass were gone, and the skylight above went from blue to sparkling black. Lotor had left quite a while ago, taking the tense air with him. However, Keith still stood guard - something that I did not understand.

My eyes were dropping, and I was quickly becoming tired.

“You know, when I was up there with the humans, I noticed something,” I said.

“What did you notice?” Keith hummed.

“My throat became really dry, and I couldn't talk very well… I’ve never had that happen before.”

“When your vocal cords dry out, you won’t be able to speak. That used to happen to me all the time.”

“Why would that happen to you? It’s not like you could have constantly been on land.”

“... When I was little, and playing with Shiro, I ended up beached… I called out to him for a while, but then my throat dried up and I couldn't call for him any more… I was up there for a long time, and Shiro only found me because he saw all the birds circling above me, waiting for me to die,” Keith explained.

“Oh, I’m sorry… that must have been scary.”

“It was, and I couldn't even cry about it because of how dried out I was.”

I didn't know what to say.

More time passed, and soon you could see the moon in all of its glory floating in the night sky.

“... Everything is okay Keith, you don’t need to stand guard anymore,” I said, yawning as I finished my sentence.

Keith turned toward me and smiled. “You’re so delicate that I guess I just feel the need to protect you,” he teased.

“Hey! You’re the one who tore me up in the first place!” I teased.

Keith’s face turned red and he stuttered out, “We-well, you were th-the one who startled me in the fir-first place!”

“I was just excited!”

“So you swam at me like a crab outta hell?”

“I... I... Well you still tore up my tail! I bled and now I’m likely gonna have scars!”

What began as playful banter turned to arguing. My hands gripped the edge of the cave entrance as I stared deep into Keith’s eyes. Keith’s ruffled up scales were no longer standing up. They were smoothed out again, but his eyes went from soft to angry at my comment.

“I didn’t mean to! I was stressed out and confused and frustrated!”

“And I was lonely!”

“That didn’t mean you had to come at me like you would a tasty fish!”

“But when you lost your grip on that bucket, you tore off my scales like it was all _my_ fault!”

“It’s not _my fault_ that I’m not used to the _kindness_ of others!”

“Yeah, because you’ve been _alone_ all your life!”

“And you’ve been _coddled_ by your _family_ all of yours!”

“ _You’ve_ never even _had_ a family!”

The two of us were up in each other's face. Our teeth bared and our bodies tensed.

“And now I’m _stuck_ in here with _you_!” Keith yelled, his fingers curled into fists.

I flinched away, and was at a loss for words, because he was right - who in their right mind would ever want to be locked in a room with me? I have been coddled and even now the humans are the ones to give me food. I sit here all day, not facing any threats of the ocean. Heck, Keith literally was the one to single handedly catch a salmon. He probably just felt obligated to share.

“But… But… I’m also stuck here with you,” I said, my voice losing its volume.

“Exactly!” Keith growled, proceeding to roll his eyes. “Jeez, you’re so bubbly that it physically hurts.”

Keith then turned around and curtly swam away. He hid himself behind the rock arch, only the tips of his tail once again visible.

I sunk back into the cave and curled in on myself.

_Shit, Lance, you’re so stupid! What were you thinking! Yeah, let’s just mention to him something bad he did to me like that’s not gonna cause him to get mad. Talking bad about his upbringing definitely isn’t gonna win me any points either… Look at you, arguing like the child you are. God, you’re so pathetic…_

I closed my eyes and fell into the sand, trying to ignore the stinging going on behind my eyelids. I could feel my body trembling, and my tail twitching every so often.

Sleep soon consumed me, but my dreams were not sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! You made it to the end again! Another chapter will arrive next Thursday. Feedback is always appreciated, as are requests. Also feel free to check out my other works. Thank you so much!


	4. Taken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here is the tea. I am having a really hard time writing for this story right now. I know where I want to go with it, but I'm just struggling a little when it comes to the execution of how I'm gonna get there. I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing, so here is at least something. I promise that next Thursday there will be another 5,000 word chapter. I'm sorry this is so short, but I did my best.

The next morning when food was dropped into the tank, I did not leave my cave. I watched as Keith swam around, collecting the green substance and taking it back to his spot beneath the rock arch.

I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach. I felt like I did something wrong and there was no way to fix it. Not only was this tank my prison but now my cave was to, because there would be no way for me to leave it without confronting Keith.

Thinking of the red mermaid made me feel dread and guilt. We were doing so good and becoming friends but maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe he really is off the rails and dangerous… or maybe it was all me. I know I can be a little annoying, and I know I said some things I shouldn’t of. Either way, the thought of looking Keith in the eyes and knowing I’m the reason he’s angry made my stomach churn.

I had never felt this horrible about treating someone bad before. Sure, I felt guilty about tricking my little sister into eating sand when she was little, but never as badly as this.

I spent the entire day alone in my cave, trying to ignore my hunger pains and boredom. There was nothing to do as I tried to think about how I could make this whole thing right. Morning turned to afternoon, and evening turned to night. Keith slept peacefully under his rock arch, giving me a chance to swim about and stretch my fins.

As I crept out of the mouth of my cave, I was greeted with the light of the full moon. It illuminated the tank in a soft glow.

I swam around for a bit, all the while glancing at Keith every now and then. His back rose up and down in a slow and constant rhythm that allowed me to know he was still asleep. He looked so calm and off guard.

I wonder what it would be like to sleep next to him.

The thought made my cheeks heat up, and I was beginning to think I wasn't just getting sick.

Then I felt my stomach churn all over again, knowing that couldn't be a possibility when I had made him angry.

There was a shadow that passed over the tank, causing me to stop my swimming and look up past the surface of the water.

What was that?

My curiosity got the better of me, and soon I was breaking through the face of the water, air touching my skin.

I didn't see anything. The room was dark, and there were no strange noises or smells either.

At first I thought I was going crazy and had just been seeing things. But as I began to dive back underwater, I felt something wrap around the bottom of my tail - the area where my torso turns to the one, giant fin. Then I was being jerked backward, and a gasp left my mouth. I was being dragged through the water, toward the edge of the tank.

“Keith!” I called, attempting to swim away. “Keith!”

The red mermaid stirred from his sleep just as I was reaching the edge of the tank.

I was flailing about, trying desperately to get away. Whatever was wrapped around my tail would not let go no matter how much I clawed at it. It was almost net-like.

“Lance!” I heard Keith yelled as he swam up to me. He grabbed onto my arms and began pulling me back down to the water. I was thrashing my tail about, trying to get away, all while yelping as I was being dragged onto land.

Soon I was yanked out of Keiths grasp, and being dragged on the concrete floor of land. I could see Keith trying to climb out of the tank, but failing miserably.

“Lance!” Keith screamed.

“Keith!”

Something was shoved into my mouth. It was dry, soft, and kept me from screaming.

I felt a black cloth go over my head as my arms were restrained behind me. I felt a pinch in my neck before hearing the deep chuckly of a voice I never wanted to hear again.

Lotor did it…

He had me…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You made it through this small snippet! I am so sorry it was so short, and I promise to make it up to you with the next chapter. Feedback is always appreciated. Thank you!


	5. Killer Whale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that this was posted so late in the day! I hope this chapter is a good to you as I wanted it to be. Personally, this one has one of my most favorite scenes so far in this story. Thank you very much for choosing to read it!

I woke up to something over my head, leaving me in darkness. I felt as though I had been drying out for a while. My skin felt as though it was flaking, and my throat was as scratchy as sandpaper. I tried to move but I felt so drained of energy… plus whatever was holding my arms down wasn’t helping any.

I just laid there, my head turned to the side as my front was pressed against something cold and hard. A slight breeze nipped at my dorsal fin, sending chills down my spine. It gave me time to think as the hours passed ever so slowly.

Keith was the most beautiful mermaid I had ever seen - that I was sure of. But what I felt for him was a bit of a different story. I knew I liked him and enjoyed his company, but I also got a funny feeling whenever I was around him. My face would heat up and my heart would race. At first I thought I was getting sick, but now I thought I had figured it out - I was allergic to Keith.

That’s it! I was allergic to Keith! Much like how my niece, Nadia, was allergic to clams. I mean, I had never been allergic to anything before, but this felt pretty funny so it must be an allergy.

I was startled out of my thoughts by the sound of boots taping their way closer, and closer.

I felt a weight on the back of my head, before the sack over my head was pulled off.

I was met with a dimly lit room, bare of anything except for the metal table I was tied down on.

I could not see who had entered the room, for they were behind me and - unlike an owl - my head does not turn all the way around.

They moved to the tip of my tail, and I could feel their dry hands brush the edge of my fin as they took hold of the table. Suddenly it was moving, the sound of squeaking wheels filling my ears. I could see the room I was in fade from view as I was taken out of it and down a long hallway. The light grew brighter and brighter as we winded through twists and turns in this strange building. Eventually a door was opened, and sunlight shone down on my back and scales, warming me and bringing me a small moment of comfort. I could smell the ocean, or at least something eerily similar to it.

Then… Then I heard splashing, and praise coming from none other than Lotor himself. He sounded genuinely happy, and not the weird creepy happy he had been during our last few encounters.

I turned my head to the right, away from the wall of the complex we were just in. I saw a giant pool of water, much bigger than the one Keith and I were kept in. And this one was outside! On the opposite side of where I currently was, there were large bleachers that stretched high up. Lotor was on the other side of the pool, standing near the ledge with a bucket at his feet. He was dressed in brown, knee-length shorts and a black pollo. He had his hands on his hips and was smiling down at the water, a strand of his white hair falling into his face. I turned my gaze toward the water, and saw a black and white mass swimming in a tight circle.

The rolling table came to an abrupt stop, just before Lotor turned his attention to us. He walked around the pool until he reached us, where he proceeded to glare and smack the person who was near my tail. I could barely see Lotor from the corner of my eye, but boy, could I hear him.

“You idiot!” He yelled. “You let him dry out! How am I ever supposed to begin when he is like this!”

I didn't hear a response from the other person.

Lotor rolled his eyes, “Untie him, I can't expect you to screw that up.”

I felt the pressure on my wrists disappear, but I still felt too weak to even attempt to try to lift myself up.

“Put him in with the other one, at least then he can begin to regain strength.”

Soon the table was moving again, but this time it was just a short distance to the edge of the pool. I felt hands on my side as I was being pushed toward the pool, and soon I slipped over the edge of the table and went tumbling down into cold water.

I had a hard time regaining my balance, as I everything felt sore. I did notice that I began to feel better once I was engulfed in the water - my throat beginning to regain moisture. I soon got myself into an upright position and was able to take in my surroundings. This pool was as deep as the one Keith and I were in, but there was no sand, rocks, or anything of the sort. It was barren of anything except for the black and white mass still swimming in circles. There were only grey walls and cold water. I slowly made my way over to the black and white creature, only to see a shadow looming above it. When I looked up and through the water, there was Lotor again.

“Look, Oreo, you have a friend. I bet he’s wondering what you’re doing,” Lotor taunted.

The creature only continues in a circle, swimming to fast for me to make out what it was. I could tell, however, that it was at least a little bigger than me.

“Jump,” Lotor commanded.

The black and white creature immediately shot up and out of the water, making a perfect arch before crashing back down into the pool. It was then, when the creatures stopped swimming to look at Lotor, that I was able to take it what it was. Another mermaid, who was clearly an adult based on not only how big they were, but the age their grey eyes held.

His tail was not scaled, but instead it was smooth, and was eerily similar in both color and the shape of his tail to that or an orca whale. The front of his tail was white, as to where the back of his tail was black. He also had a black dorsal fin, that I noticed was flopped over. That was never a good sign - to see a dorsal fin flopped over - it meant that they were very stressed, and not being treated well. His upper body was very toned, the beige flesh littered with pink scars. It was then that I noticed he was missing his right arm, only a stub left in its place. He had very dark hair, almost black in color. There was a white tuft of hair in the front that was white, and a little longer than the rest of his hair. There was also a faded pink scar running across the bridge of his nose.

Jeez, what did he go through?

A chunk of dead fish was tossed into the water, this Oreo catching it with his teeth, chewing and swallowing. Never once did he look at me, keeping his full attention on Lotor.

I watched at Lotor told Oreo several commands that had him jumping and spinning through the air, or swimming in patterns through the water. Each time Oreo did something right, he was rewarded with fish. Eventually the bucket was barren of anything. Lotor proceed to pick up the tin cylinder before looking at me.

“You’ll learn to do that soon, Blue,” Lotor walked away, leaving me alone with Oreo.

“Hi,” I timidly said, watching as Oreo turned his attention toward me. “Your name is Oreo?”

“I hate that name,” Oreo said, before a smile graced his face. “I’m Shiro, and you are?”

Why does that name sound so familiar?

“I’m Lance, but the humans call me Blue.”

“Well Lance, where did you come from?” Shiro asked.

“I lived off Cuba, before being taken to SeaLion’s Aquarium… Then I ended up here,” I said. “You?”

“Coast of Texas, or at least, until I was brought here some time ago… Now Lotor has me as a show horse.”

“Show horse?”

“Yeah, he has me doing all these weird tricks and perform for people… come to think of it, he’s probably gonna make you one too.”

I cringed, “ No offence, but I really don’t wanna be doing what you were earlier. It was like he had complete control over you.”

“Well,” Shiro said. “It’s not like I have much of a choice. If I don’t comply, the consequences are much worse.”

My eyes glanced to his missing arm before I could stop myself. I quickly looked back up at him, and apologise.

Shiro laughed, “Don’t worry about it. And that’s not from them, at least not intentionally. My arm was caught up in rope when I was taken, and it ended up breaking far too much for it to be fixed. They ended up taking it off, but it took me a long time to figure out how to swim without going in circles.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, praying that something like that has never happened to me. “That must have been really painful.”

“It was, but I’m fine now… You look tired, you should lie down.”

I nodded, once again feeling how drained I was. “That sounds like a good idea.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I awoke, it was to the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning far off in the distance. Drops of rain were hitting the surface of the water. I lifted myself from the bottom of the pool and took notice of Shiro in the distance. He was floating belly up on the surface of the water, rain hitting his exposed skin. His eyes were closed and he looked content. I swam to the surface, and found that I enjoyed watching for the bolts of light and listening to the rumble of thunder.

I wish Keith could experience this. I hadn’t felt the wind or rain or anything of the sort for the longest time. For a moment, I almost felt free - like I was back home and swimming near the surface of the water. The only difference was that this water did not smell of salt.

“Do you miss it?” a deep voice asked from behind me.

I turned around to meet Shiro.

“Yeah,” I said, a flash of lightning appearing behind Shiro. “But I wish Keith could feel this.”

“Keith?”

“Yeah. Back at SeaLion’s, the tank isn’t exposed. There is glass roof that allows sunlight in, but you never get to feel rain or anything… It’s been so long since I felt this.”

“You said Keith. Keith who? What does he look like?” Shiro asked.

“Oh, Keith. Well, he has a red, koi fish-like tail, and three dorsal fins-”

“Does he have a mullet?” Shiro quickly butted in.

“Yeah? How did you- OH! You’re the Shiro that Keith was talking about!”

“You saw Keith! He was with you!” Shiro’s eyes went wide, and I could see his thoughts racing in his head.

“Yeah, he got taken too. When they put him in the tank, he was pretty shaken up… he, uh, he kinda attacked me…”

“He attacked you?”

“...Yeah…” I released my torso up to show him the damaged scales, and the healing tears in my tail fin.

His eyebrows furrowed together, “That’s not like Keith. I mean, sure, he can be rude, but I’ve never seen him do something like that…”

“It’s okay, we made up and became friends… I think we’re still friends.”

“You think?”

“Yeah… We got into an argument and it didn't end well… but he did try to save me when I was being kidnapped, so I really don’t know if we’re still mad at each other or not,” I explained.

Shiro let out a small laugh, “Sounds like Keith all right… But is he okay? He’s not hurt, right?”

“He’s okay… well, besides the disk-like-tag they pierced into his largest dorsal fin. It’s like mine, but his is black with white markings. I don’t know if mine is the same color.”

“Your’s is white with black markings. I noticed it when we first met, I just didn’t want to say anything.”

The rain soon began to slow to only a drizzle, and the sun cam peeking out from the clouds that were still left in the sky. Shiro and I had slipped back under the water, minding our own business as I began to grow bored out of my mind. Well… I was bored until the door on that large building swung open. Lotor walked out with a tin bucket in his left hand and one of those electric sticks from the aquarium. He had that sick grin on his face as he came to the edge of the pool.

“Blue!” Lotor called, setting the bucket down at his feet.

I just stared at his face, distorted through the water.

Like Hell I wanna be anywhere near you…

“I wouldn't leave him waiting,” Shiro said, not too far behind me.

“What’s he gonna do to me? He’s not gonna get in the water,” I responded.

“You’d be surprised.”

“Blue!” Lotor called again, a hint of agitation blooming in his voice.

I hesitantly swam over to Lotor, peaking my head up and out of the water.

“Good boy,” Lotor said, reaching his hand into the bucket and tossing a small piece of fish at me. It smacked me in the face and slid down into the water.

Rude! No way I’m taking any of that from you…

Lotor shook his head, “You’ll learn to catch those soon enough. Afterall, it’s the only food you’ll ever be fed. You have to earn it.”

I looked at him, puzzled.

“Okay Blue, we’re gonna try a few simple ones first,” Lotor reached into the bucket and pulled out another piece of fish. “Catch!” He tossed the fish up into the air, and I watched as it fell into the water with a tiny splash.

Lotor sighed, then picked up the long electric stick and shoved it at my neck.

I yelped at it quickly touched my flesh, a stinging sensation going down my spine. The rod was quickly taken away, and the pain stopped.

Lotor then reached into the bucket again, and pulled out another piece of fish.

“Catch it,” Shiro said. “Catch it with your teeth.”

“Why would I-”

“Catch!” Lotor commanded.

The piece of fish flew through the air, and I moved ever so slightly to the left, opened my mouth, and caught the fish between my teeth.

This is so stupid…

Lotor smiled, “Good job, Blue.”

This continued for a while, where Lotor would throw fish and I would have to catch it. Each time, he threw pieces farther and farther out. Each time I missed, I was hit with the electrical stick. After maybe an hour or two, Lotor ran out of fish in the bucket, and decided to do something different.

Lotor called me to him, and go to him I did. He reached down, leaning over the water, and ran his hand through my hair.

It was then that I decided to give him a bit of what he deserved. I quickly took hold of his arm, and pulled him into the water. Lotor doved deep, flailing his arms in an attempt to get to the surface.

I quickly swam away, watching from afar.

Lotor finally gained his fins, and was able to reach the surface. His hair stuck to his face as he broke through the surface, his eyes red with rage. He swam to the ledge of the pool, and climbed out - he was soaked to the bone. He quickly took hold of the electrical stick that was left on the ground. When he realised he could not reach me alone, he walked to the wall of the giant complex. He bent down and grabbed a long, white pole with a loop at the end. He walked back over to the pool, and shoved the giant pole into the water. He moved the pole toward me, and I swam all around in an attempt to avoid it. That was… until Lotor cornered me. There was nothing I could do as the loop came around my head, and I was yanked up and out of the water. Lotor pulled me onto the burning hot concrete that surrounded the pool.

“You stupid animal!” He yelled, stalking toward me.

I raised my hands up to defend myself, only for a boot to hit me in my side. I doubled over, whimpering.I curled in on myself as his boot hit me over and over again in the same spot. All the while Lotor spat profanities. Eventually, I began to feel lightheaded. Lotor ceased his beatings, and dragged my by my arms back to the pool. I could feel my scales being scrapped, not enough to pull them off but enough that it hurt. I was dumped back into the water, where I swam away to get as far as I could from that horrible man.

Lotor glared down at me, before he left without a word, leaving me alone again with Shiro.’

“I want to go home,” I whimpered, my eyes stinging.

“Every moment of my life,” Shiro muttered. “Everyday will get easier. You’ll learn his quirks and not to disobey him… I’m sorry about the bruise he left on you. It will go away with time.”

“Did he ever do still like that to you?” I asked, feeling my side continue to throb with pain.

Shiro nodded his head, “He would cut me, and whip me when I didn’t behave. But that was back when I was learning what predicament I got myself in… By the way, just thought I’d let you know that tomorrow, Lotor is having another show. Of course, you won’t be ready for that, so Lotor will probably have you off in a corner or somewhere.”

“...What are those like?” I asked,

“Hell,” Shiro responded. “He isn’t supposed to even have us, so the people he lets in are really shady. They’re always on these small boxes that flash and disorient me during shows. Then there is the noise,” Shiro groaned. “They’re so freaking loud.”

“It sounds like Hell… Hey Shiro, how long have you been here?”

“Over a year, why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering how long Keith had been alone for. I could tell he really misses you.”

Shiro’s eyes softened, “I’ve missed my little brother too.”

“He is really something… I mean, the way he is able to catch a salmon all on his own is amazing.”

Shiro smiled, “Yeah, I was just as surprised when, after he watched me do it once, he never had trouble with it again. He’s a quick learner.”

“...Hey Shiro, I think I’m allergic to Keith?”

Shiro let out a loud laugh, “What?”

My face began to heat up in embarrassment, an emotion I was very familiar with. “Yeah… Like, I feel really funny around him, and my heart races,” I smiled just thinking about it. “It’s not a horrible feeling, but I’ve never felt it around anyone before.”

Shiro raised his eyebrows, “Tell me more… What do you think of him?”

“Oh, I think he’s great!” I exclaimed. “He’s beautiful, and really kind when he wants to be… I like that he is really independent - unlike me, he can take care of himself.”

“Do you like him?”

“Yeah, we’re friends… but, I… I kinda feel unhappy with just being friends… But that’s silly, because what more could we be than that?”

Shiro’s smile dropped slightly. “I know what you’re talking about, Lance. I know exactly what you’re feeling.”

I gasped, “Are you allergic to him too?”

Shiro’s smile grew wider, “No, but I felt the exact same way for someone named Adam… He was very handsome, and always knew just what to say to make me smile.”

“Adam… What was she like?”

“He was the best thing that ever happened to me. When I was young, we fell in love and I was dumb enough to leave him for an adventure with an older mermaid and his son… We got lost in a whirlpool, and I ended up by Texas… Then I met Keith…”

“Oh…” I had no idea what to say. “No offense, Shiro, but what does that have to do with how I feel?”

Shiro grinned, “Have you ever considered the idea that you may be attracted to boys?”

I laughed, “That’s absurd! Why would I- wait a minute,” I gasped again. “Are you saying that I’m gay?”

“Think about it, Lance. Have you ever felt anything similar for a girl?”

“Well… no…”

“And have you ever thought about boys in a courtship manner?”

I had to think about that one, “I mean, I guess I kinda think about Keith like that.” I could feel my cheeks heating up again and that fluttery feeling in my stomach at the thought of courting Keith.

“This is just my take, but I think you-”

“I’m in love with Keith,” I whispered, realisation taking over me.

Now it all made sense! Why I was so quick to want to befriend him, and why I would daydream about curling up next to him at night. I had been blind to it this whole time! I was in love with the feisty red mermaid who slapped my heart away the moment we met. And that was when I knew I had to get back to him.

“Oh my gosh, Shiro! You’re so right!” I exclaimed.

Shiro had a knowing look on his face. “So tell me, Lance, are you worthy of my little brother?” Shiro teased.

Then my stomach dropped when he said that, even though I knew he was just joking.

“Not really,” I muttered, the fluttering feeling now gone and instead replaced with a deep sense of dread.“I said some really rude stuff, and I know I annoyed him a lot.”

Shiro’s eyes softened, “Keith is easily annoyed, but if he puts up with you, then that just means he enjoys your company.”

Shiro placed a hand on my shoulder, “I’m sure you’re fine, Lance… Not a lot of people can say they’ve made friends with Keith. You must be very special to him.”

“I-I don’t know. We didn’t exactly know each other for that long. I think he felt obligated to share his food or something… He felt really bad about scratching me up.”

“He shared his food with you?”

“Yeah, he even jokingly said he caught this giant salmon that was thrown into the tank for me… He must think I’m some sort of incompetent guppy.”

Shiro laughed, the sound vibrating through the water. “If he shared his food with you then he must really love you. He won’t even split a kill with me. He could down a whole salmon by himself if he really wanted to,” the orca mermaid shook his head, “Kid sure does have an appetite.”

The thought of Keith loving me sent a very happy feeling flooding through me.

Could you imagine Keith courting me? That would be Heaven on Earth…

“You’re smiling,” Shiro stated. “...Hey Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t ever change who you are, no matter what other people say…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following day, Lotor fished me out of the water and put me in this small, pink, plastic tub filled with only the minimum moisture I needed to survive.. I was stationed just outside of the pool and out of sight of the bleachers, but I could still see everything going on.

As the day went on, and Lotor made Shiro do tricks non stop, the rising sun soon dipped into the horizon. Shiro was left to rest for a few hours while people began to file into the enclosure. They sat themselves on the bleachers and talked amongst one another.

I peeked my head over the edge of the plastic tub, and rested my hands on the edge. I watched the humans come and go, their chatter echoing across the pool.

I could see Shiro watching them as well as he swam through the water, taking caution not to break through the surface.

Lotor soon stepped out of the building, dressed in a fancy purple and white tux. He walked up the crowd, spreading his hands and greeting the audience.

“Ladie and Gentlemen! What you are about to see is something you will never be able to find anywhere else. Today you are here to witness a creature no man has ever seen and lived to tell the tale,” Lotor raised his hand above the water, waving it twice.

Shiro circled around the pool before picking up speed and jumping high up into the air. As he dived back down the people on the bleachers clapped their hands.

“This is obviously a mermaid, but one of the most rare! He is an Orca type, but you may be more familiar with the title of Killer Whale. His name is Oreo, and you will never see another like him again!”

I watched as Shiro swam through the water, jumping out and spinning every once in a while. Lotor had Shiro doing flips in the air, swimming through hoops in the water, and even jump through one that was lit on fire.

From where I was in the back, I hoped that I would never be in Shiro’s place. But then another thought creepped itself into the back of my mind.

Never will I let Keith end up as Lotor’s pet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Another chapter completed! Thank you so much for reading it! A new chapter will be posted next Thursday. Feel free to leave feedback or request a story. It would also be great of you to check out my other works as well! Thank you!


	6. Radio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Another chapter posted on time!

When Lotor said Shiro was the kind of creature you might see in the wild and not live to tell the tale, he was completely wrong. Shiro was the kindest mermaid I had ever met. He may have looked intimidating based on his larger size and muscular form, but looks were quite deceiving. Why orcas - mermaid or not - were called Killer Whales would forever remain a mystery to me. What I did not know before, I knew now. Shiro had taught me a lot about orca’s.

For one, orca mermaids were not commonly found to travel alone, as they often stayed together is pods. I learned that they were a very playful species, and the little ones would often play with their prey when hunting. Shiro said that Adam had a little brother, who would love to terrorise his fish before he killed them. The two had tried to break the little man’s habit, but no progress was made by the time Shiro had left.

“One time, Adam and I were hunting this shark-”

“You were hunting a shark?” I asked in disbelief.

Shiro chuckled, “Yeah, it’s not an uncommon thing for orca’s to do. This shark was smaller than the average adult. We guessed it was still pretty young, but it’s underside was heavily bleeding and wouldn't likely last much longer. Our pod hadn’t caught anything decent enough to feed all seven of us for a few weeks, so being able to kill that shark would have been wonderful. Adam and I raced to follow the scent of blood as soon as it came around. When we found the shark, we started to chase it. Well, the damn thing was faster that we both expected it to be! So, Adam and I are on either side of the shark, swimming as fast as we can. We come upon this sudden cliff that we were at the bottom of. This stupid shark thinks that it can fit through one of the holes that leade to an elaberate cave system in the clif, but it ends up getting stuck while trying to fit!”

I laughed, Shiro and I both watching stars in the night sky as he tells his story.

“Adam and I had to pull it free, and once it was out, I slammed it into the rocks, knocking it out. Adam then finished it off, ripping into its head. We ended up each taking ahold of the tail and pulling it, together, back to the pod.”

“How did the pod react?”

“Oh, they were ecstatic! We were all full that night, and we even had the fins left over,” Shiro smiled fondly. “Adam would always say that he loved when I would get really into hunting,” Shiro’s eyes softened, and red tinted his cheeks. “He would go on this long rant about how he didn’t know what he would do without me. We were the two most capable orca’s in our pod. He said that without me, he wouldn't have been able to provide half the food we were able to catch together.”

“... who all was in your pod? Were they all family?” I asked.

“Well, Adam and I were together, plus there was his little brother, so I would count them as family. But, Matt, Katie, Mrs.Holt and Mr.Holt were not related to us. They weren't even orcas. They were southern platyfish mermaids. We kinda met up during a hunt, and took a liking to each other. I didn’t expect us to stay together as long as we had.”

“Sounds like you guys were really close…”

“We really were. But I have no idea how they’ve been doing, or if they’re even still together… The last time I saw them was well over a year ago. I’m sure that Adam’s little brother has gotten bigger by now… and Kaite is probably growing up too.”

“... I’m really sorry that you ended up here, Shiro… no one deserved this,” I said, watching these two stars move in sync through the night sky, red and green and flashing as they moved.

“Speaking of which,” Shiro turned to me and took hold of my shoulder. “How are your cuts doing?”

I looked down at my arms, seeing the bright red slashes that were no longer bleeding as they had been earlier. “They’re doing okay… They still sting a lot. Lotor didn’t hold back with that whip at all.”

“Unfortunately, that’s what happens when you throw the fish back at him. At least the slashes aren’t as deep as mine. Yours won’t scar… Not that it makes the situation any better,” Shiro stated. “You know, I heard one of the human’s last night saying that Lotor was running an illegal circus… Now, not that I know what illegal or circus mean, but they made it sound like what he was doing wasn’t common and was really bad… Knowing that made me really happy, because at least not that many mermaids in captivity suffer as we do.”

“Yeah,” I said, turning my gaze back to the moon, the bright pearl in the sky vibrantly glowing as not a cloud dared to obstruct its beauty. “At least Keith and I were taken care of. No one beat us, and we were fed everyday. I would say that the worst thing to happen was having no privacy, and the occasional human who would knock you out to do medical work on you.”

“I’m glad they feed you both everyday. Sometimes Lotor could go weeks without giving me food. He always knows when he has over done it when my ribs start to show…” Shiro took his hand off my shoulder, also returning his gaze to the sky.

“... Keith’s ribs were showing when he first entered the tank. He was really desperate for food… But, I saw that he is very capable of catching food on his own. I don’t understand why he would have looked that way when I met him,” I said.

“... I know that after Keith’s dad died, he refused to eat anything for a long time. When I found him, I had to force him to eat just to keep him from constantly passing out… Maybe that’s what he did after I was taken. He probably starved himself…” Shiro paused. “You said that he shared a salmon with you, so he is eating again. Or at least he was before you disappeared… It wouldn't surprise me if he is starving himself again…”

“I sure hope not, I would hate for him to do that to himself over someone like me.”

“What are you talking about, Lance? Of course you’re someone to worry over. Who would you think that?” Shiro asked, perplexed.

“Well… I-”

The door of the large warehouse - a human had called it - swung open and out strutted Lotor.

“That’s weird, he never comes out here at night,” Shiro muttered.

We watched the white haired man reached behind him for a box clipped to his belt that Shiro called a radio. He set it on the ground, along with that tin bucket he had been carrying.

“Oreo!” Lotor called as he stood up.

Shiro obediently swam with grace to the edge of the pool where Lotor resided.

Lotor reached down and stroked Shiro’s black and white hair, before he said “Okay, we’re gonna try something very new to you. But I trust that you’re a smart enough animal to understand what you’re meant to do.”

I watched, feeling very uneasy, as Lotor removed his hand from Shiro’s head and walked back into the complex.

“How does that radio work?” I asked, swimming up to Shiro.

“You turn the dial at the top and it plays different things. Sometimes it’s music, sometimes it's about what is going on in the human world,” Shiro explained, the two of us looking at the radio.

I reached my arm out and took hold of the black box, my other hand supporting myself by gripping the ledge of the pool. I could feel the bruises on my chest throb as my skin pressed against the wall.

“Don’t drop it in the water. I saw Lotor do that once, and when he had me bring it back to him, it was broken. I don’t think the water is good for it.”

I turned it around in my hand, and found a switch on the side. I flipped the switch and it came to life.

“- _en last tuesday robbing a bank. She was wearing a green jacket and black pants. If you have any information about her whereabouts, please call your local police station, or the tip line at five, seven, three, zero_ -” the box buzzed with sound, and I felt compelled to turn the dial at the top.

“ ~ _Night breezes seem to whisper, ‘I love you.’ Birds sitting in the sycamore tree_ ~ ”

I twisted the dial again.

“ _Winds headed north along the east coast are picking up in severity. Meteorologist are keeping a watch on the Atlantic Ocean to see if stronger weather may develop. Prepare for what may likely become a hurri_ -”

“You better put that thing back before Lotor catches you with it,” Shiro warned.

I flipped the switch back off, the box became silent.

The door to the warehouse opened again, and I swiftly swam farther out into the pool. I was careful not to let the radio touch the water, wanting to toy with it later. I kept facing away from Lotor, trying to think of how to hide the black box from him.

“Okay, Oreo, I want you to spin,” Lotor commanded.

I could feel the water moving differently than it was before as Shiro spun in a tight circle in the water, chasing his tail as he always did.

“Now you need to stay perfectly in place, otherwise this is going to hurt you.”

I looked around, not paying much attention to what was occuring behind me anymore.

Then I saw it. Among the bleachers was a tall bin that looked like the bucket Lotor stored fish in, but much taller. Just as I heard a scream behind me, I tossed the radio into the tall bin.

I quickly turned around to find blood seeping out of Shiro’s side and spreading through the water. Above him, Lotor looked disappointed, all the while he held a stick with a shiny pointed end at his side. He let out a sigh and muttering about how he knew the animal wasn’t good enough.

I hastily swam to Shiro's side.

“What happened?” I asked, trying to figure out how I could help the older mermaid.

“H-He stabbed me,” Shiro groaned, holding onto the ledge of the pool with his only arm, his teeth clenching shut and face scrunched in pain.

I looked Shiro up and down until my eyes settled on the bleeding just above his hip. I frantically pressed my hands to Shiro’s wound, hearing his hiss in pain.

“S-Sorry!” I squeaked, holding my hands against his flesh. “This is what my mom told me to do!”

“I-... I-It’s okay…” Shiro slurred.

Lotor simply stood up and walked away, back through the doors to Hell of which he came. “He will be fine,” he muttered as he slammed the door behind him.

“Do you wanna get back under water?” I asked. “So you don’t have to hold onto the ledge and can lay on the floor of the pool?”

Shiro nodded his head, his fist that was on the ledge clenching and unclenching.

I got onto his left side and had Shiro wrapped his arm around my neck. I helped him to the floor of the pool, leaning his back against the wall. His own hand replaced mine, he grunted as he applied more force than I had been.

I noticed that as I took my hands away, there was no evidence of there ever having been blood. The water had washed it all away.

“I-It’s not tha-” Shiro groaned, the water between us tinted a light shade of pink. Ribbons of blood floating in the water, creating eerily beautiful patterns. “tha-that deep. It’s not that deep.”

I didn’t know what to say, or what to do.

“It just hurts is all. My sides are sensitive,” Shiro smiled, his eyes clenched shut. “Adam’s little brother used to sneak up on me and tickle my sides all the time… Sometimes Adam would hold me down while all I could do was laugh…”

I gave a half smile, the kind you give when you aren’t quite sure how to react because this is a really serious situation and yet he is telling a very cute story.

I swam right next to him, plopping my tail on the ground and resting my back against the wall as well.

We sat there for who knows how long, but it was long enough that the night sky turned to a bright red sunrise. Both of our stomachs growled as no food was dropped into the water, and seeing as it was a pool, there was nothing for us to hunt.

Shiro’s side eventually stopped bleeding, and he was able to lift his hand from his wound.

His breathing was heavy, but throughout the whole ordeal, his eyes never once stung. They never turned red with tears the water would carry away like the blood that seeped out of his flesh. How he had so much of a pain tolerance, I did not understand. Maybe he grew numb to it after a while of being here. Maybe he was used to the abuse.

Either way, mermaids had an accelerated rate of healing than most animals. Our wounds will clot faster and our skin mended itself back together in a matter of days. Of course, that also depended on how severe the injury was.

“You should go get that radio before someone takes out the trash,” Shiro suggested, his voice no longer laced with as much pain as it had been a couple of hours ago.

“Oh, you’re probably right… I’ll be right back,” I said, just before swimming to the surface by the bleachers. The sun was beating down on the ground, and as I touched the ledge, I flinched away from the hot sensation, yelping in the process.

_But I really want that radio!_

I put my hands on the bruning concrete one more time, trying to pull myself up and out of the water. But I ended up yelping again and losing my grip before plunging back into the water.

I could hear Shiro chuckling in the background.

_Come on Lance, you’re smart. You can figure this out!_

I swam back up to the surface and glared at the tall, silver bin. Then I looked around to see if there was anything I could use to knock it over.

_Let’s see… There is that plastic pool but it’s off in a corner… Oh look! A seagull! Come on Lance, focus… I don’t really see anything that could help me… wait a minute._

I cupped the water in my hands, and splashed it onto the ledge of the pool. I then hesitantly reached out and rested my hand on the ledge.

_That cooled it down! There we go! Now I just need to make a big enough splash._

I faced away from the ledge and swam to the other end of the pool. Then I turned back around and swam at full speed toward the bleachers. I jumped up and out of the water once I began to get close to the ledge. I then dove back down, flipping my tail behind me in the direction of the bin.

Water cascaded down behind me, soaking the hot concrete in a puddle of cool water. I swam back up to the surface and pulled myself up and out. I then laid down, just as I had done in front of Keith, and rolled myself over to the bin.

However, I now faced another problem. My splash may have created a path for me to cross, but the tin bucket was still hot, and the damp ground was quickly evaporating. I panicked at the idea of being left stranded on the fire-like concrete. I reached my hands out and pulled the large tin bucket to the ground. I crawled inside, feeling the metal burn my skin. I saw the black box and quickly took ahold of it. I slid out of the heat trap, and pushed the burning silver object back upright, my hand turning red for the ordeal.

I placed the radio on the ledge of the pool, feeling the concrete grow more and more hot as seconds passed. Just as I was able to reach the pool, I could feel my tail, witch was slithering on the ground behind me, feel the final burning effects of the dissipating puddle before I plunged back into the pool.

I sighed in relief when I felt the cool water engulf my body. My blue and gold scales sure did thank me for returning them to something similar to the big blue. My hands were another story, seeing as they were as red as a lobster and still hot from my mini adventure. But no matter, because if Shiro could be strong, then I would too.

Speaking of the orca, I quickly swam to him, a large grin on my face.

“I got it back!”

Shiro smiled, and slowly got up. “Well, let’s go listen to it, kiddo.”

Shiro and I swam back to the surface, breaking through the face of the water to feel the heat of the sun.

_Now that I think about it, my grandparents would be so upset to know how much time I have spent above water. My mom would tell me my scales and skin are gonna flake off from so much exposure._

I reached for the radio and flipped that switch on the side, turing another dial right next to it that raised the volume. Once I heard the crackle of the radio roar to life, I sank back into the water, only my head exposed to the air. Shiro was right next to me, doing just the same.

“- _ologist are now confirming a category three hurricane is on it’s way to the south coast of the U.S. Authorities are advising an evacuation of all of Florida. The south portion of Alabama, Mississippi, and Lousianna are also advised to evacuate or move to higher ground. Come tomorrow morning, winds will begin picking up speeds along the southern coast and sea tides will begin to rise_ …”

I turned to Shiro, “What’s a hurricane?”

Through the night we listened to the radio. We changed the stations from time to time, and heard everything from music, to stories, to static. When the sun began to rise, Shiro and I were floating belly up on the water, half asleep and listening to a mellow tune with no words, just a chorus of soft ping-like sounds created using a contraption I had never heard of. Each note sounded like a raindrop hitting the earth, beginning abruptly but fading ever so gently. Perfectly choreographed together, yet each its own little tune.

“So that is where my radio went!”

Shiro and my eyes snapped open, only to find Lotor standing at the edge of the pool by the wall. His face was flushed red with anger, his hands at his hips, and steam seemingly spewing out of his ears.

Shiro quickly rolled back over and dove under the water, only to resurface with just his head peeking out.

I turned onto my stomach as well, but instead of diving under, just flipped myself upright.

Lotor began making his way around to pool to where the radio was.

It was then I decided to do something stupid. Just as Lotor was nearing the radio, I reached out with my webbed fingers and took hold of the black device.

“Blue!” Lotor yelled, having reached the spot where the radio just resided.

I quickly swam to the center of the pool, holding the radio high up in the air.

“Blue, give that back, _now!_ ” Lotor commanded.

I looked between him and the radio, before looking down at the water.

“No, don’t you _dare_ ,” the white haired man growled.

I let go of the radio, watching as it cascaded down word and hit the water with an audible plop.

I looked up only to see Lotor’s fists clenched at his sides, and his brows furrowed in searing anger.

“You stipd fish! You’re gonna wish you never crossed the likes of me,” Lotor then sauntered off, slamming the door to that stupid wharehouse behind him.

“Lance, why would you do that?” Shiro asked, and for the first time since I met him, I noticed his hands shaking ever to slightly.

“... I-I… I just really want to make his life difficult,” I said.

“Well, that is what you just did to yours.”

Shiro and I resided in the pool, waiting anxiously for Lotor to return. The sky grew grey with clouds blocking out the sun, and the air was cooled down by the angry breeze that blew. The more time that went by, the more I dreaded dropping the radio. I fished it out from the bottom of the pool, and took the drenched thing to the ledge.

I floated in the water, justs staring at the clouds and thinking about the radio.

The chain-link fence that surrounded the place began to rattle as the wind blew harder and harder. I could smell the sea, stronger than I had been able to smell it when I first arrived.

“Something is wrong,” Shiro muttered, not far from me, gliding around just under the water.

“What?”

“You don’t feel it?” He asked, stopping his swimming to look at me.

“I mean… I’m pretty hungry, but-”

“No, it’s like… it’s like your head hurts, and everything feels a little bit heavier… Like, I know something is about to happen, and I need to get away,” Shiro stated.

I just stared at him, “No.. I don’t… I don’t know what your talking about.”

Shiro hummed, and we both plunged back into silence. There were no birds chirping, or beez humming. Only the whistle of air and a foreboding quiet remained an ever present song.

_Maybe Shiro was right, something did feel very off._

Lotor returned later that evening, and when he did it was with some human I had never seen before. She was tall, and had short, light brown hair.

“Don’t you think this weather is strange? It only looks like it is going to get worse, have you checked the weather report-”

“I would, but the stupid blue fish threw my radio into the pool, and if you havent noticed, we don’t have internet out here!” Lotor growled, the woman trailing after him.

The white haired man was carrying a fishing net, the kind that pulled me up and out of the water just over half a year ago.

He walked to the ledge of the pool, where he looked down to see the radio. He laughed, “What is this? A peace offering?”

Shiro had been residing at the bottom of the deep pool, and thus had not seen Lotor and his friend join us.

On the other hand, I was floating on the surface of the water, and had been watching the clouds until Lotor interrupted.

Just as I began to adjust myself to swim upright, that net was thrown over me. I attempted to swim downward in order to escape but my dorsal fin got caught in one of the ropes holes and pulled me back. My arms became tangled in it as well as the rope cascaded downward around me. Soon, I felt my form being pulled up and out of the water. I was tugged over to the wall of the warehouse, and Lotor left me there, still trapped. He kneeled down next to my face while I flailed around and attempted to get out.

“There you go… That is where you will stay until you learn what is good for you.” Lotor stood up and kicked my sides, right were those bruises had begun to fade.

I recoiled in on myself defensively, and whimpered.

He then turned around and walked to the water's edge, staring at shiro with his cold eyes, only to turn back around and walk through the door of that warehouse, that girl following him like a lost baby turtle.

For hours and hours I layed there. I had tried to get out of the net at first, but soon realised that those round weights attached to the ends of the net were too strong for me. Shiro had tried to get out of the pool and over to me, but I told him it was of no use. Even if he could get me out, he would have to face Lotor’s wrath. The white haired man was being kind, not damaging me at first, but instead letting me dry out and weaken of a long period of time.

The wind was going wild at this point, and rain had started pouring. That was nice, at least I would prolong being dried out a little longer. Lightning flashed in the distance and the roar of thunder filled my ears. The smell of the sea continued to grow stronger and stronger. Whatever Shiro said was going to happen, I could feel it. It was going to go down then and there. When the chain link fence fegan to blow over, the wires bending back, and human trash flying about everywhere, I knew what would come next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Another chapter completed and read! Now we are getting to the exciting part. The next chapter should be posted next Thursday, but I am letting you know that with school starting, I may not be able to post as frequently as I have been. However, this story is my top priority over the others because of how much I really enjoy writing it. I will do my best to get chapters out to you as often as I can. Thank you guys so much for being so supportive! Feel free to leave feedback and/or check out my other works. Thank you!
> 
> p.s. The first person that can guess the instrument used in the acoustic song (no words are in it) that Shiro and Lance listen to, should comment it. If you answer correctly, then you get to choose between giving me an element/character/plot point to add to this story, or you can request a one-shot of your own. (No smut, or anything that goes beyond PG-13) You get one guess. Good luck!


	7. Author's Note

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so sorry that this is two weeks late, but unfortunately it is going to have to be delayed another week. I am swimming in school work and barley have any time to work on this story. I just wanted to post this to let you know that this story is not dead, and I will do my very best to get the next chapter out as fast as I can. Thank you guys so much for your support, it really helps to motivate me to write more. By the way, the contest from the previous chapter is still going, and I am going to give everyone (even if you have already attempted to answer) one more chance at guessing the instrument. I wish you all luck! This chapter will be full of actual story sometime soon.

This chapter will be posted soon, I just wanted to give you an update.


	8. Hurricane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! School has been absorbing all my time but here we are with a new chapter. I apologize for it being so short but I'm going to be cutting down the word count for new chapters in an attempt to get them out as frequently as I can. Thank you all for being so patient with me!

Rain pelted down against my skin, and lightly stung with each impact. 

The water of the pool was splashing up against the edge, spilling over and onto the rain-splattered concrete. Shiro was nowhere to be seen, and I assumed he was at the bottom of the pool, trying to shelter himself from the crazy weather and loud roars of thunder.

Suddenly the warehouse door swung open, and out stormed Lotor himself. He immediately became drenched from head to foot. He stared up at the sky, his white hair growing damp with rain water. He then turned to me, face contorted into one of anger.

“You stupid fish! We would have known this was coming if it wasn’t for you!” Lotor then began to kick me again and again.  
  
I yelped each time, not able to defend myself due to the net restricting my form.

Someone else stepped out from behind the door. “Lotor, we don’t have time for this. Narti just got word that this is a category three. We need to get out of here now!” 

I realised it was the tall woman from before.  
  
Lotor was breathing heavy, all the while he glared down at me.

“Sir, we have to leave them, there is no ti-“  
  
“I know! They won’t fit in the truck, and even if they did, we would never be able to smuggle them out of the city undetected,” Lotor growled. He turned on his heel and walked to the edge of the pool.  
  
Maybe he’ll slip and fall into the water… 

“You will always remember that I was the one to catch you. I was the one to make a killer whale submit,” Lotor’s voice dripped with venom.

“Lotor, we have to-”

Lotor turned around and stormed back into the warehouse, pulling the girl in with him and slamming the door shut. 

I felt sick to my stomach. There was nothing I could do as the weather beat down upon me. I needed to hide, to shelter myself, to swim away.

  
There was nothing I could do…

My limbs were tangled together in rope…

The thunder that rumbled in the sky sounded so much louder above water. Instead of being under several feet or even miles of water, I was out in the open and completely exposed. The sound was louder than I had ever heard it before - almost as though it was right in my ears. Flashes of light disoriented me, and I had to close my eyes. 

What was going on? I felt that sickly feeling Shiro had mentioned before, but it came in droves and left me with the need to flee. I needed to escape, I needed to swim away until the feeling left. It was like the feeling was built within me, only to be awakened by the storm.

  
Soon, I could smell the salt of the ocean, it grew stronger and stronger with each passing minute. When I opened my eyes, I could see the fence that surrounded the area was completely blown over, and water was collecting on the other side of the gate, getting ready to spill inside the now open enclosure. 

The sky was dark, grey, and filled with a smudge of clouds that blocked out the stars like a blanket of rolling sand. Each puff dripped tears onto the Earth, only to reveal their true nature when they slammed into my back. 

I just layed there, giving up in my struggle to escape the net, my face pressed into the ground. I could feel my eyes sting, and I became unsure if it was rain or tears that slipped down my face. I wept myself into an exhausted slumber, but the sleep was not peaceful. 

  
First, I felt a thin wave of water rush over me…

  
Next, I heard my name being called…

Then I opened my eyes to find the net being lifted up and off of me. A blur of white, black, and beige worked to untangle my arms. When I came to my senses, I realized two things - Shiro had freed me from the net, and we were covered in just enough water to be fully engulfed if we swam horizontally. 

“Shiro, what’s going on?” I asked, watching as the net floated away in the fast flowing water. 

Shiro had a big grin on his face as he said, “The fence blew over from all the wind, rain has been coming from the clouds for hours, and the waves are flooding the land with water! Lance, we can go home!” Shiro turned toward the fallen over gate. “We can get over the gate and back to the ocean!”

A big grin made its way onto my face. “We can go back home?”

“Yeah, Lance! We can go back home!” Shiro quickly took ahold of my arm, and said, “Come on, we have to get out of here!”

We both swam over the downed fence, water crashing against and rushing past us. As we reached it, I peeked my head up and over the water. I could see buildings, some small and some large. Before, when I was in the pool, I could not see that they were there. Now, they stood ominously in the background, like big dead reefs that shoot up and out of the ground. Just past the buildings, I could see the glistening of the ocean, the water dark and almost black looking. Waves crashed against each other and brought objects farther inland, such as human trash and overturned boats.   
  
Shiro and I passed over the gate, swimming under the murky water and making our way in the general direction of the ocean. 

Then it hit me, and all at once this sinking feeling dropped into the pit of my stomach.  
  
“Keith!” I shouted, latching onto Shito’s shoulder and tugging him back. 

Shiro turned around, a look of confusion on his face as he suddenly stopped from proceeding forward due to my rough grasp of his shoulder. 

“We have to find Keith! We can’t just leave without him!”  
  
Crashes of thunder sounded in the background, lightning flashing bright and disorienting me for a few seconds.

Shiro’s eyes widen, the realization apparent in how it rolled over him like the tide, just before he says “Where can we find him?”

I began looking around, “I don’t know… SeaLion’s Aquarium could be anywhere.”   
  
Shiro furrowed his eyebrows for a second, “Then I guess we'll just have to start swimming.”  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   


Shiro and I had been swimming around for what felt like forever. The water was getting more and more merky by the second, and it became harder to swim in when the current was pushing against us with such force all the while carrying along tree branches and various human made objects. We had swam by several buildings, while attempting to read human etchings on signs. Nothing was legeable to us, and now we were in the midst of a concrete city with no sense of where to go. 

Okay… Okay, think! I never saw the outside, but I know it had a glass roof, and… and the inside was gray, so maybe the outside is gray too? This is so frustrating! I don’t know where to find him, and with every second that passes, the water could begin to retreat back into the ocean! All that’s around us is human made things and fish! 

The water continued to rise enough that I was now able to swim upright with my tail just scraping against the ground. I twirled, taking in my surroundings. Everything was so dark. Of course, normally I could see fairly well in the dark, but the water here was different - contaminated with the brownish and blackish looking liquid leaking out of those big metal boxes, and the translucent bags that one could almost mistake for jellyfish lurking about. Then I spotted a colorful fish, likely tropical and not from this area, dashing it’s way toward the ocean. Then another one, and another one, and they kept coming. 

Then it hit me.

“Shiro!” I called, dragging Shiro’s attention to me. “Those fish aren’t from the ocean. They’re coming from somewhere else!”  
  
“You’re right. Maybe we they came from the Aquarium,” Shiro stated, already swimming in the direction they were coming from.

I hastily followed after him, anxious to find Keith.

I remember getting lost when I was a guppy. My older brother, Louis, was left in charge of watching me while my family went out to do who knows what. He was so occupied snacking on the days kill, that he hardly noticed me inching my way out of our shared room. I snuck past him, dashing out of the entrance to the cave and right past the tightly packed branches of coral that hid our home. I swam between their colorful appendages, finding the smallest holes I could fit through and swimming as high as I could. I roamed out so far that when I began to grow tired and went looking for home, I had no idea where I was. I panicked, weaving my way through the reef, unsure of what direction I was even supposed to go. The light from the sun began to disappear as the day grew old. I gave up, my eyes stinging as I whaled and draped myself over some coral. I curled in on myself, hugging my tail to my chest as I heaved out sobbs. I screamed into the ocean that I would never swim away from home ever again. As soon as I let out my last whimper just before my eyes grew heavy, a shadow loomed over me. I turned my head up to find my older brother, a look of relief on his face. He scooped my small form into his arms, my head resting on his shoulder. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he began swimming home. 

“I-I’m s-”

“I know, mi hermano. Yo tambien lo siento,” Louis said, clutching me tighter to his chest.

  
I knew that when I would find Keith, I would understand just how Louis probably felt when he found me - happy and relieved.

Shiro and I reached the tail end of the fleeing fish. They were coming out of a small hole made in a collapsed building.

“No! We can't get in!” I cried, putting my face flush against the hole. The inside was completely dark. I removed my face, taking a good look at the crumbling structure. 

The building itself was huge, with no windows and a large sign at the top that had bright blue markings resting atop a curved yellow slash. Next to the words was a giant, flat, sea lion. The sign stretched up into the sky, but was lopsided and swaying. I could hear the creaks it made from under the water. 

“This is it,” I whispered, before a big grin spread onto my face. I quickly turned toward Shiro, yelling, “This is it! Keith is in here, he just has to be!”

“How do you know? We can’t even get in if this was the right place. It’s not like we can read that big sign anyway.”

“I-I just know it is! The place is called SeaLion’s Aquarium, and on the sign is a giant sea lion, so it just- I-It has to be! Shiro, just… please… I have to get to him, and I just know he’s in there…”

Shiro’s eyes softened, “Look, I want him back just as much as you do, but if we waste our time in places he might not be, the water could recede back into the ocean, and our chance to find him could be lost. We need to be sure before we do anything brash.”

I paused, now hesitant on whether Keith might really be within the building or not. For all I know, humans might just like having sea lions on their buildings. 

What if Louis decided to swim right instead of left, knowing that the longer he spent looking for me, the less likely I would be found and the more likely I was to be a meal for a lurking predator? What if he made the right call, even if he was unsure about which direction to turn… He trusted his instinct, and it lead him the right way.

“I have to get into that building, if it’s the last thing I do because I know that Keith is in there. Every part of me is saying that he can’t possibly be anywhere else,” I said.

Shiro’s eyes searched mine before he nodded his head saying, “Show me the way.”

As we swam the perimeter of the building, chunks of wall were breaking off from the top, and wires came crashing down from blown over brown polls that jutted out of the ground. Shiro and I came back to the front of the building where we tried to lift the large heaps of human structure enough that we could pass through, but our efforts were in vain. No matter what we did, we could not find a way in, the rubble to heavy and Shiro struggled to keep his balance without the use of a second arm.

Alas, I heard the hissing before I saw the creature.

“Move!” Shiro yelled, gripping my forearm and yanking me behind him. 

A giant beast I had never seen before jumped up and out of the water. As it crashed back down, I could see it’s murky green scales, long rigid tail, and huge jaw accompanied by rows and rows of pointy teeth.

“Wh-What is that thing?” I asked as Shiro ushered the two of us away from the monster and around the building. 

“It’s a crocodile! They don’t live near the ocean, so for this one to be here isn't normal,” the orca said.

The hissing grew louder as we stumbled upon a dead end, a giant fence with tiny holes that blocked our path. To the left of us was one of those turned over metal boxes, with the four black circles on the bottom facing us. Shiro and I had our backs to the fence with nowhere to go as the crocodile drew near. Shiro was looking around for an escape, while I was mesmerized by those teeth. 

My eyes caught those of the beast, and we had a stare down while it’s tail whipped back and forth behind it.

“It must have come from inside! If this really is the aquarium, then it must have escaped,” Shiro stated.

“...Then, if it escaped, there must be a way it was able to get out that should be big enough for us to get in!” I exclaimed, the hope rising back into my chest.

“Yeah, but first we have to get past it.”

The crocodile was right on us, opening it’s wide jaws as it began to jump out at us.

I raised my arms up out of instinct to protect my face, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Shiro squaring up to attack.

His face screamed determination as his brows furrowed.

Shiro raised his arm and bolted out at the scaled beast.

“Shiro!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! When it comes to that contest, the answer was a piano. I suppose I unintentionally hyped it up to be a much more obscure instrument than it really was, but you guys introduced me to some new instruments I had never heard before, so that was pretty cool. I have been struggling to find motivation to continue this story, but that does not mean I won't finish it. It will get done, I just don't know how soon. Also, because I'm having writers block with it, I'm opening requests to other stories in an attempt to keep me writing, even if it's not for this story. I write both ships between characters and (y/n) stories. My bio on my page shows all the fandoms I write for, and how to get in contact with me in order to request, so feel free to ask for a story. I won't write anything that might be rated higher than PG13, meaning as long as it is SFW, I will probably write it. Other than that little rant, I wish you all a good start to the new year, and thank you so much for reading my story/stories!


	9. Hope

Shiro dove down and slammed the crocodile's face into the ground, placing his hand on top of the creature’s snout, effectively restraining its front. The croc withered about in Shiro’s iron grip, hissing and squirming its tail as it tried to break free. The orca mermaid pressed all of his body weight into keeping the snout shut. He struggled to maintain his balance.

“Go!” Shiro yelled, the muscles in his bicep flexing as he held the beast at bay.

I dashed passed the mermaid and the croc, flinching when I once again caught it’s yellow eyed gaze. Once I was beyond the duo, I spotted an area by the building’s wall where water appeared to be getting sucked down and into the wall. 

_This is it. This is where I need to be!_

I swam toward the oddity in the water, realising it was being pulled into a large hole that caved down into the ground, and curved under the building. As Shiro’s grunts could be heard behind me, I carefully swam down into the narrow hole. I followed it’s short distance until it curved upward and ended inside the building. 

_This is it! This is it! This is it!_

I dashed back out of the hole to where Shiro and the crocodile were.

“Shiro! Over here! I found a way in!”

Shiro looked up at me, quickly releasing the scaled beast and making his way over to me.

The crocodile chases after us as I led him inside the tunnel. As we broke through the surface of the water that took us inside the building, we could no longer hear the hissing of the croc.

“Whatever this place is, that crocodile certainly must not want to come back in, considering he didn’t follow us through the hole,” Shiro said, looking around.

The green and white checkered floors were covered in a very thin layer of water, meaning that the floor of the building must have been raised from the ground level outside. Either that, or there were not a lot of places that were allowing water to flow into the complex. No matter, Shiro and I would not be able to swim around in this place, but at least we would be kept from drying out. It was very dark, except for the occasional flickering of these rectangular lights hanging from the tall ceiling. The whistling of the wind could faintly be heard from the outside, muffled by the thick walls. 

I turned toward Shiro after beaching myself upon the building’s floor, holding my body up by both my arms.

“Follow me,” I said, watching as Shiro drug himself out of the water as well, his front pressed into the floor. “I may not know where I’m going but I might recognise something that will take us to Keith.”

“I sure hope so, Lance. I don’t want to get stuck in this place if the hurricane ends before we can get back to the ocean.”

I got down on my forearms, and pulled myself across the smooth floor. I found it relatively easy to slide myself along, especially because of the water.

Shiro, on the other hand, had to drag himself along with his lone arm. He struggled at first but then found a rhythm, the slippery tile and the water helping him along. If my arms were burning, I could only imagine what Shiro's felt like.

My tail swayed behind me with Shiro not too far back. 

Soon the hallway we were traveling down suddenly had pitch black walls, the hanging lights now glowing a mellow blue. Embedded in the walls were glass panels, much like the ones Keith and I were held behind, but on a much smaller scale. Some of them were cracked, with water spilling out of them. I could see fish swimming about in some of them, bright in color and small in size. Up ahead there was a giant glass tube that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Within the tube were beautiful jellyfish, about the size of my head, translucent yet glowed a soft blue and purple, and almost squished together. I had never seen them up close before, and while I was amazed at their image, I was also horrified. They did not belong here, much how Keith and I did not belong here. Yet they would never survive if the container they were held in was to break and release them. There was nothing I could do for them, and like many times before, I felt helpless against the power these humans still held over us even when they were nowhere in sight.

Shiro and I passed that dark hallway, and we wound up back in another hallway that looked very similar to the one we originally started in. Along with the luminescents, there were sea animals hanging slightly lower on the ceiling. I knew what most of them were, like the beluga whale, gray seal, blue marlin, and longsnout seahorse. The very last fake creature I saw hanging at the end of the hallway was a female mermaid with a green tail like that of a red lionfish’s fins. The mermaid was smiling, her chest covered by two large purple seashells.

_That’s strange, I’ve never seen a mermaid wear shells on their chest before. Is that what they think we decorate our bodies with? I mean, besides the ceremonial stuff during mating season, mermaids don’t usually wear anything._

The hallway soon grew dark again, the lights now very dim, yet still flickering. I could see a light appearing at the end of the hallway as it rounded off into a room with black floors and black walls. In my view came a giant glass wall filled with water and glowing from the light being shined upon it. 

I recognized the place immediately as the area Keith and I were held in. Everything within it was the same, but the glass roof was now broken and had fallen inside the enclosure, sticking into the sand in giant shards. Light filtered through the open roof and glistened off the clear shards. Rain pelted down against the water, hitting the surface as fast projectiles before dissolving to become apart of the giant mass of liquid. Flashes of lightning and the roars of thunder could still be heard, but muffled by the walls yet still a very apparent reminder to the storm that continued to rage outside. I hastily dragged myself up to the glass, pressing my hands against it. I looked around for that beautiful red mermaid, but found him nowhere. He was not by the rock arch, not near the surface, nor by the sand, nor did he appear by the cave. I could not find him anywhere. 

“No!” I yelled as I slammed my fist against the glass. “No! No! No!”

“Lance, wha-”

“He was supposed to be here! He was supposed to be here!” my voice cracked as I continued to bang my fist against the wall, tears beginning to stream their way down my face. I clenched my eyes shut, pressing my forehead against the glass.

_There are all these other fish still here but Keith is nowhere to be found! We came all this way! And now who knows if he is hurt, or dead, or-_

“Lance! Look!”

I opened my eyes to see a figure peeking its head up from the bottom lip of the fake cave. 

There, beyond the glass, was black hair resting upon a head and barely grazing the shoulders of tan skin. Its bluish gray eyes widened as it began to make its way out of the cave. Trailing down its chest where flesh faded into scarlett scales, its form growing smaller until the sudden large shape of its koi-like tail demanded attention in all of it’s gorgeously corral appearance. He was a breathtaking sight, with his pink lips and his cute little nose. He pushed off the bottom lip of the cave with his arms, his biceps flexing as those muscles were used, and his lower half began to fall into the rhythm of swimming he learned as a guppy. A smile spread onto his face as he raced to greet me, his pearly white teeth no longer hidden.

_I found him… I found my Keith…_

My fists uncurled and were once again pressed against the glass, but this time in a vain attempt to be close to Keith.

Keith reached the glass, also pressing his webbed fingers and palms against the glass directly on the other side of mine. Only one or two inches separated us. 

“Keith, it’s really you!” I said, my own grin now apparent on my face. 

Keith nodded his head, “Lance, I thought you were gone forever!” His voice was muffled behind the glass, and I could hardly hear him.

“Same here,” I said, my voice now lowered. “About you, I mean. I never thought I would see you again either.”

Then Keith’s gaze turned from me to the black, white, and beige figure just behind me. His grin only grew wider. 

“Shiro!” Keith stated, moving one of his hands away from mine to place on the glass were Shiro was.

Shiro’s webbed hand also met across from Keiths, his opposite shoulder pressed against the glass as well so he wouldn't fall. The orca's mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. I could see his dark eyes growing glossy and a tinge of red threatened to engulf the whites of his eyes.

“I-I… I th-thought I would nev-never see you again,” Shiro managed to gasp out, trying his hardest not to let the tears flow down his cheeks.

Keith’s smile softened, before his eyes dropped to see all the healed gashes and scars Shiro had received during his time in captivity with Lotor. His gaze stopped at Shiro's missing appendage, and Keith’s eyes looked puzzled before they hardened, his fingers pointing at the missing arm and then the scars as he looked back into Shiro’s eyes. He opened his mouth, as though he was about to ask Shiro what happened, when Shiro shook his head.

“We’ll talk about it after we get back to the ocean,” Shiro explained.

_Right! The ocean!_

I had been so caught up in finally finding Keith that I had forgotten we didn’t have much time to find a way to get him out.

Shiro turned toward me, “Lance, we can’t break through this glass. We need to find another way to get to him. Do you know where we can-”

“I remember that there is this stairway that leads from the top of the tank downward, probably to this floor somewhere. The humans used it to get to and from our tank,” I stated.

“Perfect, we just need to find the bottom of the stairway.”

I turned toward Keith, “Go to the surface of the tank and try to get yourself to the top of the stairway. If you don’t think you can get yourself down the stairs, that’s fine. Just wait for us to find you” 

Keith nodded, beginning to turn away from the glass when he suddenly stopped, looked back over his shoulder and said, “Both of you be careful,” before darting off to break through the surface of the water in the tank.

I felt my heart flutter for a few moments before I regained my focus and began to look around for a rout to Keith.

“Let’s keep going down the hallway and maybe we’ll stumble upon it,” Shiro said.

I followed after Shiro, a happiness settled itself into my chest and a smile etched into my features. The dark hallway once again turned to that checkered floor and white walls. The hallway dragged on for a while before we came across a door that blended in with the wall, only given away by the silver handle that adorned it. 

“Maybe this is it,” Shiro mumbled before he reached for the handle, swinging the door open to find it led to a very small room, full of long sticks with bushy ends, buckets, bottles, and other such things.

Shiro’s face hardened as he pressed his body into the door to close it. “Not here.”

We continued on our way.

I began to daydream while we searched. I thought of Keith and being back in the ocean with him. I could try to court him then, and see if he might be interested. I didn't quite know how I would court him, considering I had never thought about two males doing so with each other before Shiro helped me figure myself out. Would he still like it if I made him garments out of pebbles and shells scattered about the seafloor? Would he be offended?

When my older brother, Louis, was courting his wife, he was a nervous wreck. He wanted to make sure everything was perfect, from the bed of various soft items he found, to the very best shell he could find that he would present to her when he planned on asking her to stay with him for the rest of his life. He would spend hours upon hours just searching for the right sized fish, plentiful enough for the both of them. He became very adimate on looking good, and fretted over his appearance every time he knew she was to meet him later. Of course, she loved everything he brought her as gifts. He made her a necklace of shells and weaved patterns in the sand. They would chase after each other in the water, playing a game that was pretty much a combination of tag and hide-and-go-seek. They would spend forever with each other, simply content in eachothers arms or exploring places they had never been before. They completed each other in every wa-

“AaaaaaaahhhhHHHHHHHH **HHHHHHH!** ” BANG! KSSSHHHH

Shiro and I halted. We looked at each other before cautiously looking around.

“What was that?” I whispered.

“I don’t know, but the voice sounded like Keith's.”

There was a short silence that followed, our ears trying to pinpoint where the sound came from.

“LaNcE!” someone goaned off in the distance. “sHiRo!” Their voices cracked as they spoke.

_Keith!_

“Keith where are you?” I called out, Shiro asking something similar at the same time.

There were a few short bangs coming from up ahead, almost like a fist weakly rapping against one of those metal doors.

The orca and I picked up our pace down the hallway, following the sound until we reached another one of those doors that almost blended into the wall. I quickly pushed down on the handle, trying to open it, only to find it locked.

“Keith!” I yelled.

“I’m here!” Keith responded, his voice on the other side of the door. There was a huff of a laugh before he said, “I made it down the stairs… Uh, but now I’m kinda squished against this door.”

I could picture him then, his front pressed against the door with his head turned and one of his cheeks flush against it. His hands were probably stuck below him in a position that prevented him from getting up. His tail was probably curled up behind him, the tips of his fins barley grazing the skin on his back. 

I turned toward Shiro, “How are we going to open the door?”

Shiro looked like he was lost in thought before he gestured with his head for me to move aside while he tried to jiggle the handle himself. He pulled on the handle, but the door did not budge. He tried to break the handle off by wiggling it back and forth, yanking it in different directions but nothing came of it. He pulled and pulled, putting all his muscle and body weight into it, but no progress. He fell to the floor, pushing himself back up with his arm. Shiro and I looked at each other before an idea came to my mind.

“Was there anything you saw in that tiny room behind the other door that might help us here?” I asked.

“Let’s go back and look,” Shiro said, dragging himself back toward that room.

“We’ll be right back, Keith! We’re trying to figure out how to open the door!” I yelled.

“I know,” Keith let out a breathy laugh. “I can hear you through the door, dummy!”

I smiled, also dragging myself back to the other room.

Within a few minutes, that other door was open and we were searching inside for anything of use. 

Shiro inspected the strength of some of the items in order to see if they could be useful in breaking open the door.

I was looking around at the items on top of the shelves, just out of reach. There were a lot of boxes, and nothing that looked very useful. I saw a white box with a red

Cross on its side. I saw another one of those sticks, but this one was smaller and with what appeared to be a red rubber cup on its end. There were a few colored bottles here and there, along with some black looking bags. Up on the very top shelf I spotted a very large red bottle with a black hose coming out of it that connected to a cup.

“Hey, Shiro, that thing on the top shelf looks really heavy. Do you think we could use it to smash the handle off?”

Shiro thought for a moment. “We could, but first we need to get it down.”

The orca then grabbed ahold of one of those long sticks with the floppy white strings at the end and raised it up above his head. He leaned against the frame of the door. He then told me to back out of the room while he stayed in the entrance, that way the large red item would not fall on top of one of us. He used the stick to slowly push the red thing off it’s shelf. It fell, hitting a wall opposite of the shelf it was first resting on, leaving a dent, before crashing to the floor with a loud thud. I then took hold of the silver handle on it, and began dragging it back to Keith.

When we reached Keith, I grabbed the red cylinder with both hands and slammed it against the door handle, over and over. The handle eventually broke off, and the door swung right open.

Keith slid out from behind the door with a small grunt, picking himself up with his arms and brushing the hair out of his face. He spotted Shiro first, as I dropped the canister which rolled down the hall. The two mermaids hugged each other briefly, grins on both their faces. 

“How did you survive?” Keith asked when they pulled apart.

I now felt a new feeling in my stomach, one that said _Keith should be hugging me, not Shiro._ Though, I knew the two brothers, not related by blood, had not seen each other in the longest time. I couldn't help but feel… left out, or at least secluded.

As Shiro was explaining the loss of his arm, Lotor and the circus, Keith’s eyes caught mine. 

My heart fluttered and my cheeks flushed with heat. I felt the palms of my hands begin to sweat, and I slowly raised one hand in a small wave. “H-hi, Kei-”

The red mermaid moved forward and captured me in a hug, crushing me against him as he rested his head on my chest. His hands were on my lower back, his fingers just brushing against my scales that began to make up my tail. I felt a shiver go down my spine from the contact, but hoped Keith would not notice. I hesitantly wrapped my arms around his upper back. I could feel his hair softly tickling my neck, and his mouth letting out little huffs of air as he took breaths that brushed against my skin. His muscles barley moved under my finder tips, but I could still feel them ever so slightly shifting. My eyes trailed down his bare shoulders, gazing at his three dorsal fins, to the dip of his spine, lingering on his scales and the silver dots that went down his back. My eyes eventually reached his tail, where I could see their beautiful shape and the way they fanned out against the floor. He was perfect. That moment was perfect. 

“Don’t you ever swim off on me again, you hear?” Keith said, his voice vibrating his chest. I could feel his eyelashes moving against my skin as he blinked.

I nodded my head, though I knew he could not see it.

“I promise.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Another chapter will be posted soon. Requests are open, so feel free to go to my profile to find out how to request! As always, feedback is forever appreciated :P

**Author's Note:**

> You made it to the end! Yay! Thank you for taking the time to read this, as I really put a lot of work into it. Please feel free to give me feedback or request a story. I would greatly appreciate it if you also checked out my other works. A new chapter will be uploaded as soon as possible!


End file.
